Soul Care:the Heart of the Shepherd
Yo, yo, and hello to all of my readers! There are several things to talk about today. First of all, I feel the need to apologize for not blogging the last few days. Been really busy. Now I'm back.
Secondly, I've read the third chapter in Like a Shepherd Lead US. It is called Soul Care and The Heart of the Shepherd by David Wray (Bible professor at ACU and elder at the Highland Church in Abilene). At the top of the chapter Wray tells two storys. In the first one he tells of his first ministry position in which he was thrust into a heated discussion between the eldership and a group of youth deacons. They were arguing about the youth ministry taking the teens on a swimming outting in the late summer. A reasonable solution was proposed, that they would wear cover up clothing (a t-shirt and shorts) over their swim suits. This seamed to appease the elders. On the day of the swim party, no one wore the cover ups until mid afternoon, when sun burn was a chief concern. Shortly their after the elders came by to see if their demands were being met. They came, looked around, saw everyone wearing the agreed upon cover ups, and went home happy.
Then he wrote about his second ministry venture inwhich the elders actually took part in the member's lives and took a more prayerful approach in their eldership. Wray says this second ministry experience rather then the first was a more powerfully positive ministry experience with elders who took on a more shepherding role to being elders. The first group of elders where more of managers for the church then shepherds.
Next Wray discusses a few of shepherding models in the Bible (in both the Old and New Testaments). In the Old Testament he lists Isaiah 40:11 and Jeremiah 50:6 and tells us how these "witness to the importance of shepherding". And Ezekiel 34 is certainly the most comprehensive Old Testament text on shepherding. Wray says that if we treat 34:4 (for example) as a "spirit description" instead of a job discription he would paraphrase as follows, "You have strengthened the weak, healed the sick, and bound up the injured. You have brought back the strays, searched for the lost. You have ruled them kindly and gently". He goes on to state that all of these paints the picture of the "responsibilities of shepherds in the twenty-first century, and provides us a biblical shepherding model. Tasks given in this passage concentrate on relationships and challenge us to live near the sheep."
Then he talks about the four most important tasks of the shepherd in great detail. The first of these is strengthening the weak. If shepherds really know their sheep as well as they should, they'll know which ones are "strong" and which are "weak". Shepherds really need to be out amongest their sheep to really get to know each one of them. They need to be among them, to smell like sheep (which is the book title of a great book on elders as shepherds by Lynn Anderson) in order to know what their individual needs are.
The second one is healing the sick. As was stated in the chapter before this, elders are called upon to pray for various situations. And of course one of these is when one is sick (and could be spiritual or physical). Wray brings up a great analogy of when we are physically sick we go to the doctor who prescribes medicen for us to take to bring us back to health. So when we are spiritually sick we must seek out our spiritual doctor (Jesus). We must go to our shepherd to help us go to God to recieve healing in our souls. As James says in chapter 5, "Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well, the Lord will raise him up" (5:14-15).
The third one is binding up the injured. This includes special spiritual care during times of loss and times of grief. Elders who are truely shepherds will be closely tied to their flock. Then they will visit them in hospitals, in funeral homes, at home wherever to conduct spiritual soul care. Injured sheep are at great risk. Ezekiel 34 paints the picture of injured sheep lying somewhere in the wilderness. If they aren't found soon wild anamils will find them and devour them. A sheep's wool coat can be quit heavy and top them over. If they aren't found soon they will fall prey to any wild anamil that should find it. Their only hope is to be found in time by their shepherd. Far too many times the church finds out about people who have been spiritually devoured by the devil (who's described as a lion in 1 Peter 5) and it is too late for them to be found. We need to make ourselves available at all times to them to make sure things like that don't happen.
The next part is bringing back the strays. In Luke 15 Jesus tells a parable about a shepherd who gathered 99 of his sheep and went out to find the one lost sheep. And when he found it, he scooped it up in his arms and brought it back rejoicing that the one lost sheep was found. In today's society we have little or no room for lost things. If something is lost, we too easily toss it out as a loss and move on. Not so in Kingdom business. The Cheif Shepherd will not rest until He has ALL of His sheep back home again.
The next section is on searching for the lost. When a person is lost today scores of people roam the area searching for the one who's lost. In the same way, biblical leaders search for the lost. As stated above the Cheif Shepherd doesn't rest until everyone of His sheep is found and accounted for. Far too many churches hear in the US are in decline and people are falling away from the church. We need to be about going out their and find them and bring them back.
And the last section is about kindly and gently leading them. Shepherds must gently lead their sheep. Leadership that is harsh will quickly drive their subjects away. Biblical leadership must be gentle and easy to gain the sheep's respect, then they will follow him any where. That is what John 10 talks about. Here Jesus says that He knows His sheep and that His sheep know Him and know His voice. They'll follow Him anywhere, but they won't follow a stranger. They'll run away from him. Also in this section Wray talks about the issue of authority in the elders. John 10 especially talks about that too. Here the shepherd has so much "authority" that his sheep only obey his voice. Why? Because the shepherd has earned his sheep's respect. So much so, infact, that they only obey his voice and no other. They'll run away from any stranger. They only listen to and obey their shepherd's voice.
I certainly believe Ezekiel 34 is the most comprehenisve treatise on biblical shepherding in the Old Testament. Please also not Matthew 20:22-25; Luke 15; John 10, and Acts 20 as shepherding models in the New Testament.
Well, I guess that's all for today. Thank you all for reading my e-book. God bless you all in Jesus' Name. Have a great day.
Zack
Ps. Please pray for the AIMers especially today (all those currently on the mission field and those still in Lubbock preparing to go to the mission field) and for my friends Elijah and Kristan and friends Rob and Denyce as they are preparing for their respective mission fields. Thanks! God bless you all once again.
Secondly, I've read the third chapter in Like a Shepherd Lead US. It is called Soul Care and The Heart of the Shepherd by David Wray (Bible professor at ACU and elder at the Highland Church in Abilene). At the top of the chapter Wray tells two storys. In the first one he tells of his first ministry position in which he was thrust into a heated discussion between the eldership and a group of youth deacons. They were arguing about the youth ministry taking the teens on a swimming outting in the late summer. A reasonable solution was proposed, that they would wear cover up clothing (a t-shirt and shorts) over their swim suits. This seamed to appease the elders. On the day of the swim party, no one wore the cover ups until mid afternoon, when sun burn was a chief concern. Shortly their after the elders came by to see if their demands were being met. They came, looked around, saw everyone wearing the agreed upon cover ups, and went home happy.
Then he wrote about his second ministry venture inwhich the elders actually took part in the member's lives and took a more prayerful approach in their eldership. Wray says this second ministry experience rather then the first was a more powerfully positive ministry experience with elders who took on a more shepherding role to being elders. The first group of elders where more of managers for the church then shepherds.
Next Wray discusses a few of shepherding models in the Bible (in both the Old and New Testaments). In the Old Testament he lists Isaiah 40:11 and Jeremiah 50:6 and tells us how these "witness to the importance of shepherding". And Ezekiel 34 is certainly the most comprehensive Old Testament text on shepherding. Wray says that if we treat 34:4 (for example) as a "spirit description" instead of a job discription he would paraphrase as follows, "You have strengthened the weak, healed the sick, and bound up the injured. You have brought back the strays, searched for the lost. You have ruled them kindly and gently". He goes on to state that all of these paints the picture of the "responsibilities of shepherds in the twenty-first century, and provides us a biblical shepherding model. Tasks given in this passage concentrate on relationships and challenge us to live near the sheep."
Then he talks about the four most important tasks of the shepherd in great detail. The first of these is strengthening the weak. If shepherds really know their sheep as well as they should, they'll know which ones are "strong" and which are "weak". Shepherds really need to be out amongest their sheep to really get to know each one of them. They need to be among them, to smell like sheep (which is the book title of a great book on elders as shepherds by Lynn Anderson) in order to know what their individual needs are.
The second one is healing the sick. As was stated in the chapter before this, elders are called upon to pray for various situations. And of course one of these is when one is sick (and could be spiritual or physical). Wray brings up a great analogy of when we are physically sick we go to the doctor who prescribes medicen for us to take to bring us back to health. So when we are spiritually sick we must seek out our spiritual doctor (Jesus). We must go to our shepherd to help us go to God to recieve healing in our souls. As James says in chapter 5, "Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well, the Lord will raise him up" (5:14-15).
The third one is binding up the injured. This includes special spiritual care during times of loss and times of grief. Elders who are truely shepherds will be closely tied to their flock. Then they will visit them in hospitals, in funeral homes, at home wherever to conduct spiritual soul care. Injured sheep are at great risk. Ezekiel 34 paints the picture of injured sheep lying somewhere in the wilderness. If they aren't found soon wild anamils will find them and devour them. A sheep's wool coat can be quit heavy and top them over. If they aren't found soon they will fall prey to any wild anamil that should find it. Their only hope is to be found in time by their shepherd. Far too many times the church finds out about people who have been spiritually devoured by the devil (who's described as a lion in 1 Peter 5) and it is too late for them to be found. We need to make ourselves available at all times to them to make sure things like that don't happen.
The next part is bringing back the strays. In Luke 15 Jesus tells a parable about a shepherd who gathered 99 of his sheep and went out to find the one lost sheep. And when he found it, he scooped it up in his arms and brought it back rejoicing that the one lost sheep was found. In today's society we have little or no room for lost things. If something is lost, we too easily toss it out as a loss and move on. Not so in Kingdom business. The Cheif Shepherd will not rest until He has ALL of His sheep back home again.
The next section is on searching for the lost. When a person is lost today scores of people roam the area searching for the one who's lost. In the same way, biblical leaders search for the lost. As stated above the Cheif Shepherd doesn't rest until everyone of His sheep is found and accounted for. Far too many churches hear in the US are in decline and people are falling away from the church. We need to be about going out their and find them and bring them back.
And the last section is about kindly and gently leading them. Shepherds must gently lead their sheep. Leadership that is harsh will quickly drive their subjects away. Biblical leadership must be gentle and easy to gain the sheep's respect, then they will follow him any where. That is what John 10 talks about. Here Jesus says that He knows His sheep and that His sheep know Him and know His voice. They'll follow Him anywhere, but they won't follow a stranger. They'll run away from him. Also in this section Wray talks about the issue of authority in the elders. John 10 especially talks about that too. Here the shepherd has so much "authority" that his sheep only obey his voice. Why? Because the shepherd has earned his sheep's respect. So much so, infact, that they only obey his voice and no other. They'll run away from any stranger. They only listen to and obey their shepherd's voice.
I certainly believe Ezekiel 34 is the most comprehenisve treatise on biblical shepherding in the Old Testament. Please also not Matthew 20:22-25; Luke 15; John 10, and Acts 20 as shepherding models in the New Testament.
Well, I guess that's all for today. Thank you all for reading my e-book. God bless you all in Jesus' Name. Have a great day.
Zack
Ps. Please pray for the AIMers especially today (all those currently on the mission field and those still in Lubbock preparing to go to the mission field) and for my friends Elijah and Kristan and friends Rob and Denyce as they are preparing for their respective mission fields. Thanks! God bless you all once again.
posted by Zack | 7:18 AM
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