Be a shepherd who lays down your life for the sheep

The call to pastoral ministry is a difficult call.

We are to shepherd people, oversee the administration of the church, equip the people for works of service, preach the gospel, care for the sick, hurting and absent, and the list goes on.

Perhaps one of the more difficult roles shepherds must tend to (and it seems to be increasingly necessary) is that of protector and defender. We need to protect the sheep in our care from wolves that would try and destroy them. We are called to defend the integrity of the Word and protect the doctrinal standards of the church.

In the midst of protecting and defending we will have opposition and feel caught in the middle. Let us remember 4 vital things about protecting the people and guarding the Word and doctrine of the church:

1. The people need to be protected from false teaching, but we also need to equip them to identify it themselves and to learn and apply the true gospel to their lives and the church
2. Knowing the Word of God is vital to identifying falsehood as well as knowing when and how to call it out. We must study the Bible like a dying man searching for food or water to save him
3. To know the Word we also need the gifts and tools of Godly counsel and the traditions/liturgies of the church to help us interpret and apply what the Bible is saying. Let us not arrogantly assume that we have the answers in our own head without seeking wisdom outside of ourselves
4. Finally let us carefully seek God’s counsel for when and how to correct and rebuke and instruct. Let us remember about “casting pearls before swine” and “endless genealogies and myths” whilst also remember that with “gentleness and respect” we are to “always be prepared to give an answer for the hope that we have” especially as we are “watching over our life and doctrine closely”

I know there is so much more to be said about this, but I am calling pastors to please be sure to protect and defend, but let us also do it with gentleness and respect (because how we shepherd is vitally important. We must shepherd like Jesus and even work for the salvation and transformation of the wolves). But whether the wolves are ever won over to the Lord, we still must defend the people and the truths of the gospel. This is a necessary role of being a shepherd, let us not run away when a wolf comes, like we are only ‘hired hands’ but instead let us recognize we are to be true under-shepherds of the Good Shepherd, and as He did, so should we, be willing to lay down our life for the sheep.