Elder as a Shepherd, Part 2

Introduction: Continuation of the Elder as Shepherd Theme

0:00 This sermon was preached on Sunday evening, June 23rd, 1985, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now, for any of you who are with us this evening who were not with us this morning, I will say that our meditation in the Word of God this evening is very simply the continuation and the completion of a half-preached sermon this morning. And both of these messages, or the culmination of the one message, will be found in the official installation of Dr. Robert Paul Martin to serve the Lord and His people as an elder in this assembly. Now, in our study this morning, I sought to establish from the Word of God as foundational. To everything that would follow, two basic concepts that are embedded in the Scriptures. First of all, I tried to articulate the truth of the centrality or the predominance of the shepherd imagery in defining and describing the nature and function of the office of an elder.

1:21 And we looked at passages in the Old and the New Testaments, which do indeed... clearly teach that of all the various images and analogies of the function of an elder, the central, the predominant one, the one which John Owen says incorporates all of the others in one sense, is the imagery of a shepherd.

1:47 And then I sought to establish in the second place the supremacy of Christ as the perfect example of the shepherd or the shepherd of God. That the shepherd will keep чаWd office and function. Having then established those foundational matters from key passages in Old and New Testaments, I then proceeded to address but one dimension of the shepherd-flock relationship, namely the fundamental bond between the shepherd and his sheep. And I tried to demonstrate from the Scriptures that, in the case of our Lord, as the Great Shepherd, Christ came with each of us, and not one of us, is ever related to enough.

The Fundamental Bond: Love and Accountability

2:25 In this Nervous Sam chilled. thousands and hundreds of people inquired, and in the end, others그�inating, coriander interjected in utter dissatisfaction, when he came to see the Lord as the greatest Shepherd. The bond which unites him to his flock is the bond of love to the flock and accountability to the God whose flock it is. And so with the under-shepherds, we are to take our clue from the Lord Jesus, and if we are properly to fulfill our tasks, we must be bound to our people in self-denying love, love that principled affection that seeks the good of its object, even at great cost to itself, and also bound to them and our responsibilities to them in the light of our accountability to God, Hebrews 13, 17b. Now tonight, we proceed to take up the second and third lines of thought, and they are these. We will consider together the first, the fundamental tasks which the shepherd is to perform with respect to his sheep, and then if we have time, the fundamental responsibilities of the sheep to their shepherds. Having now considered the fundamental bond between the shepherd and his sheep, the bond of love and accountability, we now attempt to open up the fundamental tasks

3:53 which, the shepherd is to perform with respect to his sheep. And we'll follow this pattern of seeing the task in the great shepherd, first of all, and then by way of analogy and imitation, that task as it is to be carried out by the under-shepherds. And I want to underscore what I alluded to this morning, that in doing this, we do not go to books which describe the fundamentals, we do not take a function of ancient or modern shepherds, and taking our clue from those who describe those functions, impose them on the word of God. Rather, we go to the word of God for the concept of shepherding as God has revealed it. And one of the strands of thought that we saw in several pivotal passages this morning, is that the great shepherd functions as a shepherd, of constituted rule and authority. We saw him as the shepherd king, the shepherd prince. And so as we think of the functions of the chief shepherd, we must remember that he performs those functions as the shepherd king,

5:13 that is, as one who has been given right and authority to rule over his people. And likewise, in every dimension of the task of an under-shepherd, it is assumed that the under-shepherd is in a place of spiritual rule. That's why the scripture says, Obey them that have the rule over you. Remember them that had the rule over you.

5:43 And imitate their faith. And so the shepherding does not negate the concept of constituted authority, but the shepherding imagery becomes the channel, the means by which that rule is carried out. But we must never forget that surrounding all of that imagery and its outworking is the clear teaching of the word of God that elders, shepherds, are not simply advisors, but to the extent that they exercise, rule by the teaching of the word of God, they do so with the very authority of God standing over them and with them. Our Lord Jesus Christ made this abundantly clear in several passages. I mention just one of them, John chapter 13 and verse 20. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that receives whomsoever I send, receives me.

6:51 And he that receives me, receives him that sent me. When the Lord Jesus duly authorizes a messenger and sends him, to receive his messenger is to receive the one who sent him. To reject the messenger and his message is to reject the Lord who has sent him. Likewise, when Christ gives a gift to his church in the presence of the Lord, in the presence of the Lord, in the presence of the Lord, in the presence of a duly qualified pastor, a shepherd, to receive that shepherd is to receive Christ.

Task 1: Providing Nourishment for the Sheep

7:28 To reject that shepherd is to reject Christ who has given him. Well then, with those general perspectives conditioning our consideration of the specifics, now let us turn to the scriptures with this concern. How is a shepherd to fulfill his responsibility under God in the midst of the flock of God? Well, first of all, the shepherd is responsible to provide for the nourishment of the sheep.

8:03 The shepherd is responsible to provide for the nourishment of the sheep. Now surely this is most clearly taught in a passage that all of us are familiar with. Psalm 23. As David celebrates the reality of Jehovah as his shepherd,

8:26 you will notice that the first focal point of emphasis after the general introductory statement is the emphasis upon the provision of nourishment. Jehovah is my shepherd. I shall not lack anything. That's the general statement.

8:47 Now he descends to particulars. And with Jehovah, the chief shepherd, as his shepherd, what is the function that Jehovah performs as David's shepherd? He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me besides waters of rest, quiet waters.

9:13 We're told that sheep will not drink in troubled or disturbed waters, but only in quiet. And so here, the function of the great shepherd is to bring the sheep into good pasturage. And here, David says, he makes me to lie down in those pastures. He brings me to the pastures.

9:30 He makes me to lie down. And he leads me beside waters of rest. And when we turn to the New Testament, or I'm sorry, to 1 Peter, we see that he leads the sheep beside waters of rest. And when we turn to the New Testament, or I'm sorry, to 1 Peter, we see that he leads the sheep beside waters of rest.

9:50 And even further passages in the prophecies about God's great shepherd in Ezekiel, we find the same emphasis coming through again that the great shepherd will be the one who will feed his sheep. Ezekiel chapter 34 and verse 11. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I myself, even I, will search for my sheep and will seek them out. Now, when he has sought them out to minister to them, what does he do?

10:24 Verse 13, I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, bring them into their own land, and I will feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the watercourses and in all the inhabited places of the country. And I will feed them with good pasture, and upon the mountains of the height of Israel shall their fold be, there shall they lie down in good fold, and on fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. So you see the dominant emphasis upon the first and fundamental task of the shepherd being that of feeding his sheep. Well, when we turn to the New Testament, we find that this is precisely what is said of the great shepherd, even in the eternal state. Remember now, we're trying to see the pattern in the great shepherd and derive our understanding of the task of the under-shepherd by way of analogy from him. And in the book of the Revelation, in one of those beautiful pictures of the redeemed in the everlasting spirit, it states, this is what we read in Revelation chapter 7,

11:49 concerning those who have come out of great tribulation and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, Revelation 7, 15, Therefore are they before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple, and he that sits on the throne shall spread his tabernacle over them. They shall hunger night and day. No more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun strike upon them nor any heat, for the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall be their shepherd, and what will his first function be? Shall guide them into fountains of waters of life. And so here we have the picture of the redeemed in their glorified state, being yet guided by the great shepherd who continues to lead them to fountains of refreshment. Well, when we turn to the task of the under-shepherd, we find that this is precisely the note that is sounded again and again, that the shepherds are responsible to provide for the nourishment of the sheep. You'll remember in the prophecies that we read from Jeremiah this morning,

13:14 that this was to be the dominant characteristic of those shepherds given under the new covenant. Jeremiah 3.15, I shall give them shepherds after my own heart who shall feed them with knowledge and with understanding. The pastures and the quiet waters of rest, according to Jeremiah, are knowledge and understanding.

13:42 They are the food for the sheep. They are the food for the sheep. They are the food for the sheep. They are the food for the sheep.

13:44 They are the food substance of the souls of the sheep of Christ's pasture under the new covenant. And the same emphasis is found in Jeremiah 23 and in verse 4, another prophecy that we looked at from another perspective this morning. I will set up shepherds over them who shall feed them. Now, you see, that was the great curse of the false shepherds.

14:14 They didn't. They did not feed the sheep. In the opening words of Ezekiel 34, the indictment covers many aspects of the failure of these false shepherds. But the prophet begins with this.

14:29 Prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say unto them, even to the shepherds, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Woe unto the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves. Should not the shepherds feed the sheep? Now we turn to the definitive passage in the New Testament.

14:54 And of course it is here that we see again this emphasis. So much so that the translators find it difficult to know precisely how to translate it. Acts 20.28, take heed to the flock of God.

15:09 The old authorized says, feed the flock of God. Likewise in 1 Peter. 5 and also in John 20 where our Lord says to Peter, If you love me, feed or care for my sheep and for my lambs. Well, I don't want to labor the point, but I wanted to give you enough scripture to see that when I assert that the fundamental task of the shepherd is that of providing for the nourishment of the sheep, this is not simply an attempt to give a prominence to the role of teachers, and preachers, which the word of God does not give.

15:48 I've given you, I trust, enough scriptures from enough perspectives in the Old and the New Testament to convince you, if your mind is at all susceptible to the weight of scripture, that the great task of shepherding is that of providing the nourishment of pure teaching and preaching for the sheep of Christ. Now in terms of diversity of gift, and opportunity, previous training and preparation, some of the shepherds will have a more concentrated engagement in the actual public teaching and preaching. But the requirement for every elder is that he hold fast to the faithful word that is according to the teaching that he may be able to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute gainsayers. But the principle that we should understand as a congregation is that the eldership, as a band of shepherds, are responsible to secure the nourishment needed by the flock of God. That means that they are the guardians of the teaching and preaching ministries of the church.

17:08 That means that to them is committed the responsibility to see to it that anyone who stands, who stands in a classroom to instruct a two, a six, an eight, a ten, or a fourteen year old, or who stands in this pulpit to preach to the whole spectrum of that which constitutes the congregation, that those who come before you as teachers will feed you with knowledge and with understanding, that they will give you nothing but the truth of God's holy and infallible word. It is this responsibility which as elders we feel very keenly. We are conscious that in some ways we are different from other evangelical churches in that we give a place and a prominence to teaching that far overshadows every other activity in our corporate life. And this is not because Pastor Martin happens to have a high, or perhaps even, an overly inflated view of the role of a preacher and a teacher. It's because together these men have come to the conviction that as the shepherds of Christ they are to provide the nourishment of the pure teaching and preaching of the word of God.

18:33 And that responsibility is laid upon us, and it is our love for your souls that refuses to allow any dilution, of biblical truth, or any withholding of any aspect of the whole counsel of God, because we love you too much to see your growth stunted by anything else becoming central in our life, or by anything but truth being brought before you for the nourishment of your soul. But then in the second place, the shepherd is not only responsible to provide nourishment, but the shepherd is responsible to maintain the place of each sheep within the flock. The shepherd is responsible to maintain the place of each sheep within the flock. Now, I confess in my preparation for the ministry that this is a line of truth that I have never seen so clearly as it has come to me in the study of these passages. Let's learn to do that.

Task 2: Maintaining Each Sheep's Place Within the Flock

19:45 Let's learn to do that! look again to the pattern in the great shepherd. Turn to Ezekiel 34 once more. Against the backdrop of what the false shepherds did not do, God underscores one of the primary functions and responsibilities of the true shepherd whom he himself will bring. What did the false shepherds fail to do? Ezekiel 34, 4b. God indicts them by saying, neither have you brought back that which was driven away. Neither have you sought that which was lost. Lost, but with force and rigor

20:35 have you ruled over them. And they were scattered because there was no shepherd. Oh, there were people who had the name of God. There were people who had the name of God. There were people who had the name of God. There were people who had the name of God. There were people who had the name of God. entitled shepherd but they were not shepherds indeed and the sheep were scattered because there were no true functioning shepherds and what happened when they were scattered they became vulnerable they became food to all the beast of the field and were scattered my sheep wandered through all the mountains and upon every high hill yea my sheep were scattered upon all the face of the earth and there was none that did search or seek after them you see the picture here are these false shepherds sitting back having a feast on the flesh of the sheep utterly unconcerned that the sheep are scattered and vulnerable to all of the predators that roam

21:26 about the mountains and God says against that backdrop this is what I will do when I become shepherd verse 11 thus saith the Lord Jehovah behold I my self even I will search for my sheep and will seek them out and as a shepherd seeks out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered abroad so will I seek out my sheep and I will deliver them out of all places whither they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries you And bring them into their own land. And I will feed them upon the mountains of Israel. You see what the true shepherd does? He cannot stand the thought of a scattered flock. And seeing the scattered, wounded, torn flock, he says, I will come and I will go out and I will gather them to myself.

22:33 Doesn't this sound like the language of the Lord Jesus in John 10 and verse 16? John 10, the chapter in which our Lord asserts that he is the good shepherd as we saw this morning. He says in John 10, 16, Other sheep I have which are not of this fold. Them also I must bring and they shall hear my voice.

23:01 And they shall become one flock. A flock existing in peace and safety. Safety and abundant provision under one shepherd. And you remember the parable of our Lord in Luke 15, where he speaks of the shepherd who when one sheep has been separated from the flock, leaves the ninety and nine and goes out and seeks it until he brings it back into identification and integration with the flock.

23:33 And we have a similar passage in Matthew 18, 12 to 14. So you see, one of the great functions of the great shepherd is not simply to provide food, as it were, on an individual basis. The whole concept of the church as a flock speaks of a corporate identity. A hundred sheep in a hundred separate pens, separated by a half a mile, would never be called a flock of sheep upon a mountain.

24:06 But the imagery is that the Lord, the shepherd gathers them into proximity to one another. And the shepherd ministers to the individual needs of the flock as the individual sheep are part of the flock. And when we turn to the classic passage in the New Testament, we see that this is made abundantly clear with respect to the church as the flock of God. That individual growth of the believer does not, does not exist in isolation from other believers.

24:43 That he is fed and nourished as he is kept in the closest relationships to, in this passage, the body. But according to other passages, the church viewed as the flock. Ephesians chapter 4. For here is the passage which speaks of the exalted Christ giving gifts unto men.

25:06 And he gives pastors and teachers, verse 11, for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ, till we all attain unto the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we be no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the slight of men in craftiness, after the wise, by the wiles of error. But speaking truth in love may grow up in all things unto him who is the head, even Christ, from whom all the body fitly framed and knit together, through that which every joint supplieth, according to the working in due measure of each several part, makes the increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love. Granted, here is the image of the body. But Paul has no problem in moving from the statement of shepherds and teachers, which is the pastoral imagery, into that of the body, and the common denominator is the corporal nature,

26:28 the corporate nature of the identity of God's people. And so no little part of the responsibility of the shepherds in Christ's flock, is to maintain the place of each sheep within the flock, to make sure that people do not begin to stray to the fringes of the flock, so that when the flock is seated or lying in green pastures, you don't have some just far enough away to be out of reach of that which is provided for their nourishment. And when the shepherd is leading the flock, through treacherous places, that they are together, that he may lead them, and you don't have those that are out on the fringes, and vulnerable to predators, and vulnerable to other dangers. Now, when we turn to the New Testament, with respect to the task of under-shepherds, again, the emphasis, though not as explicit, surely can be seen in Acts 20 and verse 28. We are commanded, We are commanded, We are commanded, We are commanded, to pay close attention to the flock of God which is among us. And we are to pay close attention to the flock in the light of the dangers to which the flock is exposed.

27:56 And when is the flock most exposed to danger? When it is scattered. You remember in Matthew 9, 36, Jesus looked out and saw the multitudes and it is said, that he saw them as sheep, having no shepherd. They were scattered.

28:17 Again, in Matthew 26, 31. Smite the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered. And scattered sheep become vulnerable sheep. Now, do you see what this says to us as under-shepherds?

28:32 And what it says to you, the people of God, about our concern? What for some, no doubt, is regarded almost as a fundamental issue. Almost as a fanatical passion for maintaining the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Do you see what lies behind the passion to see every member of the flock present every time the shepherds lead the flock into green pastures and beside quiet waters?

29:01 Do you see what lies behind that passion and yearning that we shall not have one flock that's here Sunday morning, another flock Sunday night, a different one Wednesday night? What kind of flock is that? What kind of flock is that? No, we have this passion and yearning that the whole flock will be present when the Word of God is taught in the Sunday school hour.

29:29 When we meet to worship and praise and draw near to God and have the Word of God come to us in our morning hour of worship. When we meet to crown the Lord's day with evening worship and ministry. When we gather on Wednesday and once a month Sunday, Saturday morning to pray. What lies behind this passion to see the whole flock together?

29:53 Is it our reputation? Is it that we have some numbers to send to the denominational headquarter to prove we're ministerial successes? No, we don't keep any numbers. We have no headquarters.

30:06 Dear people of God, I bear my heart to you. Our passion is your safety, is your well-being, not ours. Ours insofar as we can say with Paul, we live if you stand fast in the Lord. Our life is bound up in your well-being.

30:33 Believe it or not, that's true. Because God is at least in some little measure touched our hearts with the spirit of a true shepherd. Listen to the sagacious words of the late and esteemed Professor John Murray speaking on this or writing on this very subject of the shepherd being responsible to maintain the place of each shepherd within the flock. If an elder watches over his charge with tender solicitude and love, he will in many cases prevent the necessity of public censure by the eldership of the shepherd.

31:13 By the eldership as a court of the church, because his private instructions and admonitions will be corrective at the earlier stages of defection and deviation. How much of purity and peace would have been maintained in the church of Christ and will be maintained if elders are sensitive to the first steps of delinquency on the part of the people and bring the word of tender admonition and reproof to bear upon them, before they reach the by-paths of open and censurable sin? A shepherd, when he sees the sheep wandering, does not wait until it reaches the well-nigh inaccessible precipices. The elder must do the same by the ministry of admonition and warning. Believe me, there is not an elder sitting here before you tonight and certainly not this elder standing before you who does not have a native aversion to anything that might precipitate a frown from one of the sheep. There is not a one of us who likes confrontation, who even likes the possibility of seeing that look of rejection of a loving admonition. Well, what is it that enables us to overcome all of our native disinclination and distaste to go after a sheep that's beginning to get out

32:42 on the fringes of the fold, and lovingly and, if necessary, pointedly and urgently to exhort and admonish and warn and entreat and try to bring them back in? What is it that makes us overcome our native reluctance? It's love for the sheep and love for the Lord who purchased the sheep with His own precious blood. You may wish to attribute some other motive, but God is witness.

33:11 Let the motive that we declare will stand the test of His scrutiny in the last day. Then the task of a shepherd is not only to secure nourishment for the sheep, to be responsible to maintain the place of each sheep within the fold, but thirdly, the shepherd is responsible to protect the flock from its enemies. The shepherd is responsible to protect the flock from its enemies. Now, once again, let's see this in the great shepherd, the Lord Jesus.

Task 3: Protecting the Flock from Its Enemies

33:52 Psalm 23. Psalm 23 has this emphasis of the protection of the shepherd. As David celebrates the fact that the Lord is his shepherd, listen to the things he can say about his shepherd. Verse 4.

34:11 Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, the valley of deep darkness, whatever it is, it's a foreboding place that would naturally bring tremendous fear. He says, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. And when I look at the rod and staff of the shepherd and know that that rod has many a time broken the back of some predator, driven away some would-be devourer, and when I realize that that staff has many times gone around my neck or my rump to pull me back into the way, away from a precipice, away from some other danger, he said, I feel comforted. I feel safe.

34:55 I have a shepherd who's got a rod and a staff, and he has them for more than ornamental purposes. His rod and staff are functional, not ornamental. And he says, as long as I see the rod and the staff and I know they're not ornamental but functional, I feel safe. I'll fear no evil.

35:17 My shepherd is with me. That's what the great shepherd does. And the Lord Jesus underscores this in John chapter 10 when describing his own work as the great shepherd. He contrasts himself with mere hirelings.

35:35 John chapter 10, I am the good shepherd, verse 11, the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He that is a hireling, in other words, his relation to the sheep is only one of a job. The sheep exist, as far as he's concerned, only as a means to the end that he get a paycheck. He has no attachment in love or sense of accountability.

35:58 All he has is a job. He that is a hireling and not the shepherd whose own the sheep are not, he beholds the wolf coming and what's he do? He said, the wolf's fangs that can go into the flesh of a sheep could go into the flesh of my flesh. I'm getting out of here.

36:14 I'm getting out of here pronto. He flees. He beholds the wolf coming and he leaves the sheep and flees and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hireling and does not have any true care for the sheep.

36:32 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and mine own know me. Even as the father knows me and I know the father and I lay down my life for the sheep. That great enemy was an avenging law, the unanswered claims of justice that would have devoured us and the Lord Jesus seeing those our enemies that could devour us said, I am prepared to step in between those unanswered claims of an offended law, that avenging law, the unanswered claims of justice and if they demand my life that the sheep may be redeemed.

37:11 I will lay down my life. Here is the Lord Jesus the great shepherd the protector of his sheep who secures their well-being by nothing less than his own voluntary bloodletting. Now we take our clue from the great shepherd and we learn that the duty of the under shepherds is likewise to protect the flock from its enemies. Therefore in Acts chapter 20 Paul concentrates upon this very duty with respect to the elders at Ephesus.

37:45 Notice the emphasis Acts 20, 28 and 9 Take heed unto yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood. I know that after my departing grievous wolves shall enter in among you not sparing the flock and from among your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away. You see the concept separating certain sheep from the flock. It's always the tendency of error to get people out of step with the motif and the spirit and the oneness of the flock. I'm so different. I'm so exceptional. My needs so abnormal that I cannot go along with the flock.

38:40 And then there's somebody ready to push into the ear of such a person some apparently rational reason why he or she can afford the luxury of separation from the flock. Isn't that what the text says? Perverse men arise to draw away the disciples after them. Get them out of step with the flock.

39:05 Get them out of step with the direction the true shepherds are given. He's talking to the shepherds. And he says in the light of this verse 31, wherefore be watchful. Be watchful you shepherds.

39:19 Don't be so naive as to think that the memory of my three and a half years will either preserve the flock from wolves or immunize them against perverse men. But don't be so naive as to think that because I, the apostle Paul, was among you and labored and notice he says for three years so earnest that there's he warned them passion. That's earnestness. Here's a man convinced that dangers are real.

40:02 He looked upon that flock of sheep at Ephesus and he said I know when I leave and because of my advanced experience and my intensified privileges as an apostle leaving the church in the care of you elders whom the Holy Ghost is now put there to carry on the task I know there's no sense of fair play. There's no temporary truces with the prince of darkness. He's going to stir up the devouring wolves from without the perverse men from within. You shepherds always be on your guard.

40:38 Watch, watch, watch, watch, watch, watch, watch, protect the flock from its enemies. That is one of the great responsibilities of the under shepherds. The wolves that would come from without and the perverse men that would rise up from within. This is why all elders must be men of discernment.

41:04 Titus 1 9 says they must hold to the faithful word that they may be able not only to exhort in the sound doctrine but to convict them to the gainsayer. Dear people, do you wonder why those of us who preach and teach publicly and admonish privately warn you of the influence of the world, expose false teaching, seek to plead with you not to be careless but ever be watchful? It's because there is laid upon us this awesome responsibility to protect you, Christ's flock, from every enemy that would seek to ravage you. And whether you're aware of the enemy or not, it makes no difference of his intention. The sheep may be blissfully unaware that lies down a little bit of a distance from the main body of the flock, enjoying what he thinks is the luxury of some independence from the rule of the shepherds. Little does he know that a few feet away a predator's waiting to pounce upon him, go for his juggler vein and take his life.

42:22 But the shepherd, knowing that, cannot afford the luxury of saying, well, the vast majority of the flock are together, just let that one go and be devoured, teach him a lesson. No. There's to be that concern for the slightest indication of the presence of predators around the flock, and shepherds have a rod, and that rod is the word of God, and there to bring it down upon those issues to protect the flock from some kind of spiritual paranoia. It's the responsibility that has been laid upon us by the chief shepherd.

42:59 That's why the explicit duty of the servants of Christ is couched in such language as this, preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke with all longsuffering and teaching. Paul says, whom we warn, admonishing every man, teaching every man, that we may present every man perfect in Christ. Do you see now why we are committed to keeping our eyes open for any indications of false teaching? It is a horrible, horrible indictment upon those false shepherds that they sat around eating mutton while the wolves devoured the flock in Ezekiel 34, seven and eight. It is said of those false shepherds, as I live, saith the Lord, surely forasmuch as my sheep became a prey and my sheep became food to all the beasts of the field because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherd search for my sheep, but the shepherds fed themselves and fed not my sheep. They were sitting around having a feast on mutton while the beasts of the field were having their feast on mutton as well. And I fear that's the picture

44:25 of many a soft-handed, spineless reverend and elder and pastor who sits around feeding himself with the accolades of people who want to be stroked and coddled and put to sleep in the midst of danger while one after another is devoured. They are the sheep that are being fed by the enemy of our souls. Well then, there is a fourth responsibility that is laid upon the under-shepherds. The shepherd is responsible to attend to the wounds, diseases and distresses with which individual sheep are afflicted.

Task 4: Attending to Wounds, Diseases, and Distresses

45:09 The shepherd is responsible to attend to the wounds, diseases and distresses with which the individual sheep are afflicted. Now again, we look at the great shepherd the lord jesus amidst that backdrop of the indifference of the false shepherds in ezekiel 34 god says the true shepherd whom he will raise up he will be marked by this activity verse 16 i will seek that which was lost and bring back that which was driven away and will bind up that which was broken and will strengthen that which was sick you see the false shepherds god said in verse 4 you have not healed that which was sick neither have you bound up that which was broken god says i will do the very thing you fail to do and surely in the lord jesus spoken of in isaiah 40 and verse 11 you have one of the most tender images of this matter of the shepherd entering in not only to the wounds and diseases but to the peculiar distresses of his sheep isaiah 40 and verse 11 he will feed his flock like a shepherd he will gather the lambs in his arm carry them in his

46:36 bosom and will gently lead those that have their young you have one of the most tender images of this matter of the shepherd entering in not only to the wounds and diseases but to the peculiar distresses of his sheep isaiah 40 and verse 11 here's a you taken up with her little lamb preoccupied with its needs and its cares or it may speak of one that is about to deliver her lamb in either case the shepherd is conscious of that you about to deliver or the one who has just delivered and who has peculiar distractions and conscious of that he condescends to minister to its need he takes the lamb and he will give it to a shepherd and the shepherd will give the lamb is carrying her lamb in his bosom and gently leads those that have their young when we turn to the new testament and see the lord jesus with his flock we see him doing that he attends to their wounds their diseases and their distresses there are times when they are fearful and he says fear not little flock it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom there are other times when they have the disease of unbelieving in their own unbelief and he rebukes them and says oh ye of little faith why did you not believe me and then there are other times when they are distressed by things that don't seem to fit together because they had not yet developed in their understanding to see what they came to see

48:00 very clearly in that post-resurrection ministry of the lord and after the descent of the holy spirit on pentecost and there are times when the lord jesus had to speak to them and bear with them but we see him in that full range of the shepherd ministering to the wounds diseases and distresses of his sheep and that's precisely the task that god lays upon us god lays upon us as his under shepherds to try to keep our eyes open for the signs of distress for spiritual sickness and disease and disorder this is why we seek to make ourselves available our standing at the door every service is not a matter of social custom there are times when i'm so exhausted when i finish preaching the last thing i want is another hour of giving of myself rarely do i get home before quarter to two on a lord's day morning but i don't begrudge that i counted a privilege to be amongst my shoes and if some of you wonder why i won't let you engage me in something that keeps me away i want to be there to see my sheep and my fellow elders are planted at the other doors to see their sheep why to see if they can find any signs of distress and if there are no signs of distress and all is

49:30 going well to rejoice with you and to rejoice in their own hearts that you have all the appearance of a healthy sheep feeding well and growing fat inwardly that is on all the good things of god but then you see so often the eye is the window of the soul and if there's distress that's why we look you in the eye we're not suspicious of you we're not trying to do a job on you by looking into your eyeballs it's the concern of sheep a shepherd for their sheep because god has laid that responsibility upon us and you see god hasn't made us omniscient at least a sheep has sense enough if it breaks a leg to lie there and bleat loud enough until the shepherd comes running and sees the broken leg and then can mend it would to god some of you had the sense of a poor dumb sheep you got a broken leg and somebody told you the spiritual thing to do is to act like all is well so you keep a stiff upper lip you don't tell anyone you don't let your shepherds know god hasn't made us omniscient and we don't want to go around picking up sheep and we don't want to go around picking up sheep and we don't want to go around breaking up pant legs every sunday to see if you've got broken legs dear sheep if you're in trouble bleat i've had people come when their spiritual sore was full

50:55 of gangrene and i said why did you wait and they said well you're so busy i said look did i tell you i was too busy to come well i don't i said yes you assumed but but you assume what is not true there's no one in this building that can say he ever sought to have the personal attention of a shepherd and made his need known who was told we've got no time for you dear sheep of christ don't come running every time you just get a burr on your fur on your on your wool some of that you can rub off on a bush you don't want a chronic dependence on your elders but if you need to be stitched up and splinted come bleak loud enough and let us know that we may come and bind up that which is broken and seek to heal you that which is wounded well i submit that these are the four great responsibilities laid upon the shepherds to provide for the nourishment of the sheep to secure their place in the fold to protect them from their enemies to attend to their wounds diseases and distresses and we'll have to leave to another time the responsibility of the sheep to the shepherd because i do want to close by giving first of all an appeal to you christ sheep

Appeal to the Flock and Charge to the New Elder

52:16 and then to say a word directly to the one who will be formally recognized as an under shepherd in a few moments dear people of god do you think there's any man in his right mind who faces a job like this and doesn't want to throw up his hands and say with paul who is sufficient for these things if that is but an outline of the task of an under shepherd as seen in the reflection of the great shepherd then we cry with paul who is sufficient for these things and that's why each of these men together we plead with you cry to god for us as your shepherds we are made of the same adamic stuff of which you are made when you struggle with inward sin so do we and when you feel you have all you can do to keep your own chin and nose above the waters of the pressure of the world that a whirlpool pulls upon you and wants to suck you down into its vortex and drown you we feel the same pressures we're not immune to those things remaining sin in us is as much vulnerable to

53:35 temptation as it is in you and we therefore plead with you to cry to god for us that we may know the grace of christ in our own hearts in our own walk with god that we may be given wisdom discernment sensitivity continuous baptisms of love that only god can give us that we will find our joy in spending and being spent for the well-being of the flock one of the most wonderful and encouraging things that is ever said around here is when one of the sheep comes to one of us the shepherds and says you know pastor so and so i guess the best way i can express my appreciation for what goes on around here is to say i feel so safe i feel so safe i never have to worry if some kind of cookiness is going to come over the pulpit or out of the classroom i don't have to worry that there's going to be a latitudinarian attitude that will allow poison to come in and infect the congregation i feel safe and though we thank you for that encouragement dear people it will only be true so long as we

54:57 are upheld by the grace of god in our task as under shepherds pray for us if the great apostle would conclude his own epistles by saying brethren pray for us then i feel it fitting that i should conclude on that note of appeal and then i say to you my dear friend and beloved brother who will be called by the people of God from this time on Pastor Bob or Pastor Bob Martin may God enable you my brother to lay to heart what has been preached today and to know from this hour forward new dimensions of that commitment in love and accountability to this flock a commitment to this fourfold task that together the work of shepherding in this place will be strengthened to the benefit of this flock of Christ's sheep and to the glory of the Christ who purchased this flock with his own precious blood may you be a faithful shepherd to my soul a faithful shepherd to the souls of your fellow elders may we be a faithful shepherd to your soul and may we together my brethren by the grace of God renew our covenant to be true shepherds to this flock

56:23 of Christ's precious sheep let us pray our Father we thank you for your holy word and for the instruction that it contains with reference to these vital issues of the shepherd flock relationship though we've only scratched the surface in our meditations today we do pray that the Holy Spirit will right these things upon all of our hearts and bring them to remembrance for many days and years to come be with us now in this solemn and joyful time when we will formally recognize our brother as your gift to us and joyfully submit to his rule in Christ oh Lord consummate this day with the sense of your peculiar nearness to every one of our hearts we ask in Jesus name Amen