Listening to the sermon on “The Leader we need” in church last week brought back so many memories and desires. Memories of people who were shepherds in my life at different points, and desires of shepherding God’s flock.
There are so many others who were His shepherds to me- Xun who was one of the first few who watered this plant when she was young, the pastors whose teachings I’ve sat under in PPC, ARPC and Project Timothy, but here I’d like to pay tribute to 2 who came to mind as I reflected on the sermon…
I remember the days when I first took up the role of a small group leader, serving alongside with so many other brothers and sisters. And there was this camp for small group leaders that really nailed home what it means to be a small group leader, a shepherd of the small flock that God has entrusted you with. We spent the entire camp looking at the shepherding ministry in the many different angles.
Andrew led that camp, and thinking about it now fills me up with gratitude for what God has done through him in my life, that has such far reaching effects. That camp probably laid the foundation for my passion in small groups. Thank you Andrew!
And when I think about a leader who prays for her sheep, Lijuan comes to my mind almost immediately. She has been the only shepherd I’ve had who ever said to me, “I’ve been praying about this, and I feel peace about your decision to go to Beijing. I think it’s God’s leading, so go for it..” Those were not the exact words, she must had said them much better. But hearing those words- words with such holy elegance, from her was such an affirmation. The precious conversation gave me courage to embrace the Beijing stint- and look where that brought me. I miss having a shepherd like that, and I want to be like her. Thank you Lijuan!
The sermon encapsulated so many things I’ve contemplated over and over again on how to be a shepherd of God’s flock, and lessons that God has taught me each time I feel discouraged or lost. I want to be a shepherd like that! It’s such hard work, but so much joy! I pray that I can pour myself out for a community like a shepherd- no matter where i am, what role i am playing, and to serve them the way God would have me to.
But I need first to also learn to be a sheep.. A few poignant questions I was asked through the sermon-
1. What is my faith frontier? Am I seeking to stretch myself in new grounds? Or have I dwindled into a spiritual couch potato?
2. It’s not enough to care, if I do not care enough to pray really struck home. I admit that I probably talk more than I pray.. I need to reverse the priority!
Here’s parking the sermon notes as a reminder to myself in the days to come- of the shepherd I need to be for Him!
Num 27:12-23
I. WE NEED A SHEPHERD WHO YEARNS TO TAKE US TO OUR TRUE HOME (27:12-14)
A. As believers today, our true home isn’t the land of Canaan, as it was for Israel then. Our home is life in Christ here and now, and life with Christ in heaven forever after.
B. There is a song that says, “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it; prone to leave the God I love.”
How many times in our study of Numbers did we hear the Israelites say, “We want to go back to Egypt”? There’s some of them in all of us. Sometimes in our rebellion we want to run away from home, and other times we just cannot remember our way.
C. If the shepherd is to lead us home, our shepherd must see vividly what only faith can know. Our shepherd must have a spiritually innate sense of direction. Home is that way! Thankfully, God puts people in our lives who will steer us again and again back to the life of Christ, for it is only in Christ that we can rest in this alien world. Also, we need a shepherd who never forgets that “this world is not my home, I’m just a-passin’ through,” who paints pictures for us of the new heaven and the new earth more vivid the grayscale of this world and who stirs within us a homesick-ness for where we’re going instead of where we’ve been.
II. WE NEED A SHEPHERD WHO PRAYS FOR WHAT WE NEED MOST (27:15-17)
Do you remember what these people have put Moses through? Those 40 years had very nearly killed him, and they had surely broken his heart. Almost all that time, among most all the Israelites, Moses was resented and attacked. Yet, again and again he had prayed for them as though their lives depended on it. Because their lives had depended on it.
Moses prayed for the LORD’s people here as though they were the most precious people on the face of the earth. He prayed as though nothing in all of life was so important to him, so dear to his heart, as the care of God’s people. So he prays. Do not miss that. He prays.
That is what God’s shepherds must do. It is not enough that they care, if they do not care enough to pray.
III. WE NEED A SHEPHERD WHO CAN LEAD US OUT AND IN (27:17,21b)
God’s people are generally given to inertia; we are usually spiritual couch potatoes, oblivious to the fact that there are promises of God just over the horizon that he expects us to claim, that there are frontiers for our faith.
If I asked you right now to write down what your faith frontier is, what promises of God you are being pushed to believe, could you come up with something? That’s what shepherds are for. God himself, and all those who shepherd under him, keep us moving toward the life God intends for us.
In their book, Spiritual Leadership, Henry and Richard Blackaby write, “Spiritual leadership is moving people on to God’s agenda. When spiritual leaders have done their jobs, the people around them have encountered God and will obey his will.” [pp.20-21]
IV. WE NEED A SHEPHERD WHO HAS THE SPIRIT OF GOD (27:18)
The Spirit of God within a shepherd gives the wisdom of God, and there is no divine quality more needful than that. Wisdom, of course, is not the most spectacular of the Spirit’s gifts, but it is what God’s shepherd needs most.
God’s Spirit of wisdom sculpts the heart of God’s shepherd through Scripture. You who are learning to study Scripture, pay heed to this: it is not your hermeneutics and exegesis that will ultimately make you an effective shepherd for God. It will be that Scripture is on your lips, that Scripture permeates your mind and your prayers, and that Scripture shapes your behavior. That is the only possible way we can be wise enough to shepherd God’s people.
V. WE NEED A SHEPHERD WHO UNFAILINGLY INQUIRES OF THE LORD IN LEADING GOD’S PEOPLE (27:21)
So many decisions shepherds face in leading God’s people are more complex than that. We do our best to sift the issues through the pages of Scripture, through our experience as believers, through what our gut tells us.
My observation is that when we pray through to a clear answer God takes all we’ve thought about and gives it order. Not only does the decision become clear, but hearts become settled. There is a holy elegance and peace that confirms the wisdom of inquiring of the Lord.
Plus, by making this our practice, by inquiring of God unfailingly, shepherds are reminded again and again that this is God’s flock, God’s organization, God’s endeavor. The LORD’s name is on the door. No matter how wise we might be, the LORD always wants the last word.
Most importantly and obviously, Jesus Christ is our Good Shepherd. Matt 9:36 says, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” Jesus tells us in Jn 10:11, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Then he says it again in v.14, “I am the good shepherd; I know my
Keep pointing people who are “prone to wander” toward their true home in Christ and in heaven.
o Pray for their care, no matter how they treat you. Pray that you will have the shepherd they need.
o Lead them out to claim the promises of God, and safely in to the fold of Jesus.
o Do nothing without God’s Spirit of wisdom, always attuned to God’s Word.
o Unfailingly inquire of the Lord about each decision. Be wise and thoughtful. Use your head and your Bible. But do not proceed without getting God’s direction.
• Finally, one more conclusion: The LORD’s people must follow their shepherd. Most importantly, we must follow Jesus. Later, after Moses died and Joshua become the leader of Israel, the Israelites said to him in Josh 1:16, “Whatever you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.”
That is what we must say to Jesus, our Good Shepherd.
Dr. Tim Laniak, a professor at Gordon-Conwell Seminary, interviewed a Bedouin shepherd in Jordan a few years ago.
Q. How many sheep and goats do you have?
A. 2000. I have the biggest flock in this area…
Q. How many [sheep and goats] did you start with?
A. I began with one in 1984. And I still know every one of them. They are like family to me.
Q. With that many, you still know every one of them?
A. Yes. I am with the flocks every day. Although I have homes in the village, I stay out here with them during the summer [migration]. I must personally supervise the care of the sheep or I shouldn't be a shepherd…It's a thing of the soul; it's not a business.
Q. Have you ever lost any sheep?
A. Yes, but I always looked for the ones that were lost until I found them–alive or dead. There is only one sheep that I couldn't find and it still bothers me every day.
Q. How long would it take to teach me to be a good shepherd?
A. Do you have the heart for it?
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