The beloved 23rd Psalm presents the Lord as Shepherd. Passages in the New Testament add adjectives to the image. As noted two weeks ago, our Lord is the Good Shepherd, the Great Shepherd and the Chief Shepherd. To think of Jesus as the Chief Shepherd is to imply that other shepherds exist, among whom He stands out as the Chief one. This week we probe the imagery of the Church as God’s flock a bit further by pondering the role of the earthly shepherds over whom the heavenly Shepherd rules as their Chief.
Probably the most helpful passage is Acts 20:17–38 which records Paul’s charge to the church leaders at Ephesus. At the outset of the passage the church leaders are referred to as “the elders of the church” (v. 17). In the midst of the charge to the elders Paul cautioned them to be on guard both for themselves and for “all the flock that the Holy Spirit has appointed you to as overseers” (v. 28).
Having been referred to as both elders and overseers, the Ephesian church leaders were then given the charge “to shepherd the Church of God, which He purchased with His own blood” (v. 28). The verb form of shepherd — also a word for pastor — was used to urge leaders to attend to the task of shepherding (pastoring) the Church as God’s flock. Therefore when we use the title pastor to refer to the leader of a local church, as is done in Ephesians 4:11, we imply the pastor’s leadership is to be like that of a shepherd — feeding, tending, leading, protecting and caring for the flock.
Undershepherds
One way of pondering the role of local church pastors is to think of them as undershepherds. In the big picture of the Church as God’s flock, the Chief Shepherd ministers to God’s flock through God-called, Spirit-filled undershepherds. As we might say the well being of the sheep is largely dependent on the character and heart of their shepherd, so we might say the same is true of churches. Their spiritual well-being rests largely upon the character and heart of their under shepherds.
Sound doctrine
From the imagery of the Church as God’s flock we can glean several qualities that befit the undershepherds. For one thing a good and caring shepherd seeks to feed the flock on sound doctrine that nourishes the soul. Jesus highlighted this truth in His three responses to Peter’s confession of love for Jesus, saying, “Feed My lambs,” “tend My sheep” and “feed My sheep” (John 21:15–17).
What Jesus urged upon Peter, He did Himself. Mark 6:34 records that when Jesus saw a great crowd, “He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He began to teach them many things.” He fed them with truth from the Father.
Reflecting God’s heart
Again we might say a faithful undershepherd seeks to bring others into the fold. To do so a pastor reflects the heart of the Good Shepherd who said, “I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also” (John 10:16).
A caring pastor also seeks to gather wandering sheep back into the fold. In doing so undershepherds are sharing the burden of the Good Shepherd who commended shepherds that leave the 99 sheep that are safely within the fold in order to seek and find the one that has strayed (Luke 15:4–5).
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