The Overcomer Trust

  • Overcomer Literature Trust
  • Swindon
  • Wiltshire


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MIND THE FLOCK.


“Feed the flock of God” (1 Peter 5 v1-4).


Wherever God’s people gather, they are part of God’s flock. The flock is scattered throughout the world and according to our Master’s prayer is one. There is one flock, bought at the same time, marked with the same initials, belonging to the same Owner. Wherever believers gather there is a part of the one flock, and its officers, teachers and spiritual guides are just pastors, under-shepherds.

Peter said nothing about the necessity of having properly appointed priests who should offer a regular sacrifice and perform holy rites. In Peter’s judgment there was no need to add anything to the precious blood of the unblemished, spotless Lamb, or to undertake an office which is being performed through all the ages at the Throne by the great High Priest. This would have been the moment for such a reference had it been in his mind. He was more than satisfied to call himself an elder and to address those simple-hearted men as being on an equal footing with himself, with the single exception of their not having witnessed the sufferings of the Chief Shepherd, through whom the flock was purchased (Acts 20 v28).

The reference to the sufferings of Christ cast a side-light on one of the darkest hours of Peter’s history. We may infer that he went to his home when he left the Hall of Judgment in bitter agony of soul. It was however too much to stay there alone, while all Jerusalem was astir with the trial and crucifixion of his dearest Friend, and so when the crowds at Golgotha had emptied the streets, he seems to have stolen out, making his way by devious by-lanes, till he came on the scene of blood, and standing at a distance was a witness to the sufferings of Christ.

This is the one qualification for tending the flock of God. It does not depend on having received a learned education, nor to be able to talk glibly or eloquently of spiritual things, nor to have been in the imaginary line of apostolic succession. A man may claim all these things and yet not be competent to feed the flock of God. We must have seen the sufferings of Christ, not with the physical eye, but with the eye of the soul, not with the curious glance of the fickle crowd, but with the fixed loving gaze which finds in Jesus cleansing for sins and balm for wounds.

Tend is a better word than feed and includes all the various offices of a shepherd, the leading, feeding, watching and defending. It is not enough to preach to the flock once or twice each week. There must be personal supervision, watching for souls as those who must give account, seeking them if they go astray, and never resting till the straying sheep is brought again to the fold. All this is included in the word, and we need to do all this if we are to tend the flock of God.

The work must be done from love. If it is undertaken as the result of pressure, or for any reward which may be offered, the shepherd does not fulfil the meaning of this passage. “Not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to; not greedy for money but eager to serve” (1 Peter 5 v2). None of God’s soldiers are mercenaries or pressed men, they are all volunteers. We must have a shepherd’s heart if we would do a shepherd’s work. There must be a love which is similar to the love of the Chief Shepherd Himself. A love which can endure without thanks, which can grow where there is scarcely any soil and which clings to the least lovely and thankful. That love is only shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. To take the care of souls only because it gives position and influence is a sacrilege which will entail a terrible reckoning for the hireling shepherd.

God must call us to the work, sustain us in it and give us all the guidance and grace needed for us to carry out the work.

We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. My flock is the name by which He constantly addresses us. The sphere and people of our ministry should be taken straight from the hands of the Chief Shepherd. We are only accountable to Him. Our work must be done to please Him, and at His direction. We must consult Him about all our plans. We must take His directions as to what part of the green pastures our portion of the flock is to be led, and by what waters it shall rest. If anything goes wrong we must consider that it should be instantly reported to Him. If we make mistakes and the flock suffer through our ignorance, the brunt of the loss must fall on Him. There is no one so interested in the pastor’s charge as the Chief Pastor is. He shares all the anxieties, hardships, watchings and perils of the work. Not to please the flock, not to attract the applause of men, not to gain name and fame, but to do the will of the Chief Shepherd must be the aim of each true servant of Christ.

We must not abuse our position. The shepherd must win reverence, not compel it. No servant of God must strive, but be gentle to all, in meekness instructing those who oppose. And since the shepherd, in Eastern mode, must always go before the flock, he must be its example. Be an example, said Paul to the young Timothy, in word, in conversation, in love, in spirit, in faith and in purity. Those who assume to lead others must be very careful of their behaviour, that they may not be a stumbling-block to any, but that others may be heartened and stimulated by the beauty and consistency of their way of life.

When the under-shepherd fails, the Chief Shepherd may be expected to step in to fill his place, or to do his neglected work. Do not grumble to others but take your complaints to headquarters. And if He does not replace the worthless under-shepherd with another, He will undertake the office of caring for you with His own hands and you will know that “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want”. He will see the work done, or do it Himself.


From a past magazine.