Let us look to the Lord in prayer.
Dear Lord, how we do praise and thank Thee for gathering us in Thy presence these days. Lord, we do thank Thee that Thou truly art our good Shepherd. Thou hast taken care of us in such a way that we just do not know what to say.
We just desire to worship Thee, to tell Thee that we do appreciate everything that Thou hast done for us. Our only desire is that Thou wouldst draw from us that which is Thy due, Thy right.
All we do, by Thy love constrained, is to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice. We want Thee to take hold of us and do with us according to Thy heart’s desire. Lord, we want Thee to be glorified. We want Thee to be exalted, to be seen and heard even through us.
So we just commit this time again into Thy hands, and trust Thy Holy Spirit to open Thy Word to us and open our hearts to Thy Word, that these may not be just words. By the power of Thy Spirit, may they be life and spirit to us. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
Will you please turn to the Gospel according to John, John chapter 21? I believe we are all very familiar with this passage, but we will use it again. We will read John 21:15-19.
So when they had broken their fast, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me more than these?”
He saith unto Him, “Yea, Lord; Thou knowest that I love Thee.”
He saith unto him, “Feed My lambs.”He saith unto him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me?”
He saith unto Him, “Yea, Lord; Thou knowest that I love Thee.”
He saith unto him, “Tend My sheep.”He saith unto him the third time, “Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me?”
Peter was grieved because He said unto him the third time, “Lovest thou Me?”
And he said unto Him, “Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee.”
Jesus saith unto him, “Feed My sheep.”“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.”
Now this He spake, signifying by what manner of death he should glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He saith unto him, “Follow Me.”
Then another passage that we have quoted again and again: 1 Peter chapter 5. We will read 1 Peter 5:1-4.
The elders among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according unto God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock.
And when the Chief Shepherd shall be manifested, ye shall receive the crown of glory that fadeth not away.
In the past two sessions, we shared together on this matter of the place of pastoral care in the Body of Christ. We find that pastoral care is one of the greatest needs among God’s people today.
God has given to the church some pastors and teachers. Whenever we see this gift of men that God gives to the church—pastors and teachers—we thank God for that.
We also find that God has entrusted the elders of the local assemblies to shepherd the flock, to be shepherds to the brothers and sisters in these local assemblies. We thank God for that.
But we see that this matter of shepherding, of pastoral care, is so essential to the Body of Christ that God not only gives us these two groups of people to do the shepherding work. You will find that this shepherding work is actually to be done by all the members of the Body of Christ.
As members one of another, we take care of one another. No member in the body says, “I just take care of myself. I do not care about the other members.” It is an impossibility. We have to take care of one another.
So, in a sense, you will find that, so far as this function is concerned, it is actually the function of all the members of the Body of Christ. If this function is really manifested in the church, within the church, and to the church, then we see that the church will really be built up in life. There will be growth, blessing, and glory.
We also shared together something of the work of a shepherd—the work of pastoral care. What are the works involved? We find in Psalm 23 all these different aspects of work: to make the sheep lie down in green pastures; to lead them beside still waters; to restore their souls; to lead them in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake; and to be with them when they go through the valley of the shadow of death.
Sometimes the rod is used, and sometimes the staff is needed. The shepherd spreads the table in the presence of the enemy and anoints their heads. In other words, all these are the various aspects of the work of pastoral care.
Now, this morning, as our concluding session, we would like to share together on this matter of the character of the shepherd.
We are familiar with this story mentioned in John chapter 21. Brothers and sisters, we all know Peter as the fisherman. He was a fisherman by trade. He cast nets; he caught fish.
One day, as the Lord was walking by the Sea of Galilee, Peter was casting nets. The Lord said, “Come, follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” So we know Peter as a fisherman.
Now, as a fisherman, he had to be brave, courageous, decisive, strong, and skillful. These are expected of a fisherman, and they really fit Peter’s temperament. By temperament, he was that kind of person: impulsive, outspoken, rough, and strong.
We find that the Lord really called him to be a fisher of men—not a fisher of fish, but a fisher of men. On the day of Pentecost, how he cast the net and caught three thousand! Again, in the house of Cornelius, he cast the net, and the whole household of Cornelius was caught.
Peter was a fisher. That was his calling. In a sense, we can say he was an evangelist. He had the gift of an evangelist. He was an apostle, but we really do not know what the gift of an apostle is. Nobody knows. Apostle is an office; it is a commission. But perhaps the gift of an apostle includes an evangelizing gift.
Here we find Peter really had this gift of evangelizing, of casting the net. But I think we very rarely think of Peter as a shepherd. Actually, you find that he was not only called to be a fisher of men; he was called by the Lord to be a shepherd.
He was called by the Lord to be a fisher of men when our Lord was living and began His ministry. He was called by the Lord to be a shepherd after the resurrection of our Lord Jesus.
The calling came in this fashion. One day Peter had nothing to do. He was an active person. He could not stay home and do nothing; he had to do something.
During that period, the Lord suddenly appeared and suddenly disappeared, and they never knew when the Lord would appear. Peter could not wait any longer. He had to do something. So he said, “I go fishing.” Six other disciples said, “We go with thee.” So they went fishing.
But they fished the whole night and caught nothing. Peter was a master fisherman, but the Lord had really dealt with him completely. He could not get a fish.
Then, early at dawn, Someone was standing on the shore and said, “Children, have ye aught to eat?” They said, “We have not caught anything.” The Lord said, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and ye shall find.” They did so, and they caught a net full of fish.
They could not see the Lord because they were still some distance from the shore. In the early dawn there was probably mist or fog. But John, the one whom the Lord loved, said, “It is the Lord.”
Look at Peter—how impulsive he was. He put his coat upon himself, jumped into the water, and swam to the shore. That was Peter.
When all the disciples came in, they saw that the Lord had already prepared breakfast for them. There was bread and fish already there, and the Lord said, “Bring of the fish which ye have now taken.” The Lord prepared breakfast.
One day we will eat dinner with the Lord, but that was a foretaste. The Lord let them enjoy the breakfast. After the breakfast was finished, the Lord began to speak to Peter.
Sometimes we think that this incident was Peter’s restoration. Peter denied the Lord three times. He went out and wandered around. Evidently John went to find him and brought him to his own home. Peter was completely devastated.
But after the resurrection of the Lord, He appeared to Peter alone. I do believe that by appearing to Peter alone, the Lord restored him. In a sense, this incident does not refer to the restoration of Peter’s faith. He was already restored.
Sometimes we explain this by saying that the Lord had restored Peter, but wanted to restore him before his companions. In other words, so far as his relationship with the Lord was concerned, he was restored; but with his companions, there may still have been questions about him.
So the Lord used this opportunity to restore him before his companions. He denied the Lord three times, so the Lord asked him three times, “Do you love Me?” That seems to balance it and clear the whole situation. Well, I wonder whether that was necessary.
But to me, this incident is very important. Why? Because the Lord was going to commission Peter to some further work. He had called Peter to be a fisher of men before. Now He was going to call Peter to further work—not just to cast the net and bring people in, but also to shepherd the flock.
As you read this incident, you find that the Lord emphasizes one point again and again, and that is love. In other words, the most essential character of a shepherd is love.
Without love, you cannot do the work of a shepherd. There can be no pastoral care if there is not love in the heart of the person who does it. Love is the foundation. Love is the most essential quality in the life of a shepherd, or whoever is doing pastoral work.
So the Lord says, “Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me more than these?” Now, what are these?
There was a fire there. You remember, when Peter denied the Lord, he was by the fire. It was a cold night. He followed the Lord at a distance, and it was so cold that there was a fire there. He drew himself near to the fire to warm himself.
There were also other people there. Peter loved the crowd. He did not want to be alone. So even while our Lord was being judged, Peter was there with the crowd.
The Lord asked him, “Peter, do you love Me more than these? Do you love Me more than the fire? Do you love Me more than your companions? Do you love Me more than the bread and the fish? Do you love Me more than these?”
These things represent something that appeals to us naturally. In other words, these things gratify ourselves, our flesh. We need warmth and comfort. We need companions. We need food. We need these things. These things gratify our flesh.
People who love these things love themselves. So the Lord says, “Do you love Me more than loving yourself?” Once upon a time Peter thought that he loved the Lord more than himself, but it was proven that this was not the case. He really loved himself more than the Lord.
So the Lord asks, “Do you really love Me more than these?” In other words, “Do you really love Me more than you love yourself? Are you self-centered, or are you Christ-centered?”
The Lord begins with this kind of question: “Peter, do you love Me more than these?” Even though the word for love is agape, that absolute love, still you find that it is being compared with something else.
Peter said, “Lord, Thou knowest that I am attached to Thee.” I read from the New Translation, which says, “I am attached to Thee,” because the word Peter used is not agape; it is phileo. In other words, “I am friendly with Thee. I am really toward Thee. I have a good feeling about Thee.”
Peter knew what he was. After his failure, he dared not say, “Though all others should stumble, I will follow Thee even unto death. I love Thee more than anything else.” He knew he was not like that. He knew he did not have that absolute love. He knew he loved himself more than the Lord. But he had learned his lesson.
So he said, “Lord, I am attached to Thee. I really feel about Thee. I am friendly with Thee.” Then the Lord said, “Feed My lambs.”
You find that the commission of our Lord Jesus to Peter is based upon this matter of love. If there is not that love—the love of the Lord more than these things, the love of the Lord more than yourself—then do not talk about pastoral care.
The Lord will not commit any lamb to you, because you only care for yourself. You do not care for other people. If any sheep or lamb should be committed to you, you would be like a hireling, not a shepherd. You would probably feed upon the lambs instead of feeding the lambs.
When the wolf comes, you will flee because you take care of yourself. Dear brothers and sisters, as long as we are self-centered, as long as we love ourselves more than the Lord, as long as we love comfort and ease, as long as we love to gratify our flesh, remember: the Lord will never commit any lambs to us.
You may grasp them, but the result is that you will hurt them instead of helping them. Love is a prerequisite.
The Lord says, “Feed My lambs.” Lambs are little sheep. These little sheep need to be fed.
They are not able to digest solid food. They can only take in predigested food—milk, predigested food. You ought to feed them with that which has been predigested.
In other words, you have to digest the food, and then, out of what is digested in you, you are able to feed them.
Now, thank God, those who have been in the Lord for some time ought to be able to take solid food. As you remember, not only in 1 Corinthians but also in Hebrews, if a person has believed in the Lord for a few years, he ought to be able to take solid food. He ought to have his senses exercised to distinguish good and evil.
His spiritual senses should be exercised, and he should be able to digest solid food. Then, with the milk, he is able to feed the little lambs. But even so, love is required.
Then the Lord asked him a second time, “Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me?” Here you find the Lord puts it in a way in which there is no comparison. The Lord is not comparing Himself with anything else.
Why? Because the Lord is incomparable. He is alone. He is unique. He stands all by Himself. You cannot put Him on the same level with anybody else or with anything else.
Peter did it once on the Mount of Transfiguration. He put Moses and Elijah on the same footing as our Lord Jesus. Moses, the great lawgiver, and Elijah, the representative of the prophets—Peter tried to put them with the Lord on the same level.
Immediately, God interrupted and said, in effect, “No.” God took Moses and Elijah away, and declared:
This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him.
He is incomparable. You cannot compare Him with anybody else—not even with the greatest. He is all by Himself.
Furthermore, the Lord says, “Do you love Me?” Period. There is no comparison. You just love Me. That is it. The Lord is everything. He is all.
Peter, knowing himself, dared not say that he loved the Lord in such an absolute way. He could only say, “Lord, Thou knowest that I am attached to Thee. I really feel good about Thee.”
On that basis the Lord said, “Shepherd My sheep.” In the flock of God, you have little sheep, lambs; but you also have sheep that are grown up.
These sheep you do not simply feed; you shepherd. There is a great difference between feeding and shepherding. Feeding means feeding them with predigested food. You digest it for them because they are not able to digest it.
For instance, in the Word of God, as you study the Word of God, you digest the Word of God through the illumination of the Holy Spirit. The Word of God becomes living in you; it becomes digested and absorbed in you. Then, out of your experiential understanding of the Word of God, you are able to feed the lambs and help brothers and sisters who are not able to chew solid food.
But to the sheep that are grown up, do not merely feed them. The problem is that oftentimes we feed the sheep. If we are feeding the sheep all the time, you will find that they go backward. They become babes instead of growing up in the Lord.
That is the reason why today, among God’s people, many do not go to the Word themselves. They do not listen to the Spirit themselves. They do not have intimate communion with the Lord themselves. They do not take their problems to the Lord and seek after Him. They do not look to the Holy Spirit to illumine the Word to them and quicken them before Him.
Instead, you find they are just waiting for someone to speak. Every Sunday they come to be fed with something already digested. They do not need to meditate upon it. They do not need to deal with it. They just listen. If it suits them, they are happy; if it does not suit them, they reject it.
They cannot digest. It has to be predigested. No wonder today you find there are so many babes in the church.
I think the responsibility is mutual. The responsibility, of course, lies with themselves because they are not seeking as they should. But I think partly the responsibility lies with those who shepherd them, because you do everything for them. You never give them a chance to digest for themselves.
All you need to do is make them lie down in green pastures. Let them feed upon the grass. Let them ruminate and chew the cud. Let them rest and let them drink for themselves. All you need to do is direct them, lead them, and when they fall away, restore them. Be with them as they go through difficulties. That is all you need to do. But do not do everything for them.
You carry the lambs in your arms, but with the sheep you lead the way. You do not carry them; you shepherd them.
To shepherd the sheep demands absolute love toward the Lord. If we love the Lord purely, then the Lord says, “Shepherd.”
In a sense, shepherding the sheep is more difficult than feeding the lambs, because the sheep have their own will and their own way. They are not simply in your hands so that you can do anything you like with them.
They disagree with you. They argue with you. They murmur against you. They criticize you. Sometimes they do not appreciate you. It is more difficult to shepherd the sheep.
But do not destroy them. Respect them. God respects our personality. We have to respect our brothers and sisters. Try to help, try to shepherd, try to lead. It requires that absolute love toward the Lord.
Then you find the Lord does not stop there. In the church, in the flock of God, you find not only lambs and sheep, but also sheep who are old or sick. They are grown up, and yet they are declining. They are weakened, and because they are weakened, they are not able to take care of themselves anymore.
This is not only physically true; it is spiritually true. Among God’s people, there are some who have been with the Lord for a number of years, but somehow they begin to become old, stagnant, passive. They are not going on anymore.
So the Lord says, “Simon Peter, art thou attached to Me?” Here you find the Lord lowers His question, as it were. Instead of demanding that absolute love from Peter, the Lord understood Peter. The Lord says, “Are you really attached to Me? Are you really friendly toward Me? Do you feel good about Me?”
When the Lord said that, of course Peter was grieved, because he knew he could not rise to that standard. He wanted to, but he dared not boast anymore. So he was grieved, and he said, “Lord, Thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I am attached to Thee.”
But on that basis, the Lord said, “Feed My sheep.” You know, aged sheep need feeding. Ordinarily, sheep only need shepherding; but when a sheep gets old, sick, or weak, then you need to feed them. That is even more difficult.
They have experience. They have a long past. They have a history. They are fixed; they are set. When you try to feed them, they do not appreciate it. They think they should feed you. “Who are you?” It is even more difficult.
Shepherding is difficult, but feeding the aged is even more difficult. Peter the fisherman—strong, rough, impulsive—would never have been able to feed them. He would have killed them.
He had no sympathy for the weak because he was strong. It took his failure to humble him and to make him sympathetic.
So when Peter said, “Lord, I am attached to Thee,” the Lord said, in effect, “That is enough. I am ready to commit the old and sick sheep to your hands. You can feed them.”
Brothers and sisters, the one most important character that must characterize a shepherd is love.
Now, we do not have that love. Do not think that we have that love. Our natural love is not enough. Our natural love is not only inadequate; our natural love can really spoil the whole work.
It has to be the love of God.
When Peter thought that he had that love, he did not have it. But when Peter realized that he did not have it and acknowledged it, he was given that measure of love.
Brothers and sisters, if we think we love, we do not know what love is. But if we feel that we do not have that love and acknowledge it before the Lord, the Lord will give it to us.
This love comes only from the Lord. That is the reason why the question is, “Do you love Me?”
This love does not begin in us. We cannot generate or manufacture that love. It is not there. But as we see the Lord, as we are constrained by the love of Christ, then that love comes within us and enables us to love.
So whenever we are doing this pastoral work, brothers and sisters, let us realize that this is not something that we can do ourselves.
It is more than just a matter of solving some problems. It is more than a matter of helping in some way. You will find that behind it there must be love.
If there is not love there, even though you help people solve problems, or give people something to alleviate their difficulties, you cannot call this pastoral care. It does not result in the glory of God. You may get the glory, and it does not bring people to the Lord.
So you have to have love in you every time you are doing pastoral care. You have to ask the Lord to fill you with His love. When you are filled with His love, then you will find that you are able to feed the lambs, shepherd the sheep, and feed the sheep.
Then the Lord goes on and says, “Peter, when you were young, you went wherever you wanted to go and did whatever you wanted to do. You were free. But when you are old, you will stretch out your arms, and people will take you to the place where you do not want to go.” This signifies the way he would die.
Then the Lord said, “Follow Me.”
By the Sea of Galilee, at one time, the Lord called Peter and said, “Follow Me. I will make you a fisher of men.” But here, again by the Sea of Tiberias, the Lord calls him again and says, “Follow Me. I am the good Shepherd. I lay down My life for the sheep. Follow Me.”
So when Peter wrote that letter to the elders in the different assemblies, in 1 Peter, this is what he said: “The elders among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed.”
Peter was a fellow elder. We know that, among the twelve apostles, some also became elders—not all. Peter was one. John was another, because in 2 John and 3 John he speaks of himself as “the elder.”
There are different interpretations, but I personally feel that it can be both. John was an elder in age at that time, and he probably was an elder in the church in Jerusalem. The church in Jerusalem was such a center of the Lord’s work that it was more than merely a local assembly. The apostles lived there.
Probably some of the apostles served at the same time as elders of the church in Jerusalem. Peter was an elder, and as an elder, of course, he was to shepherd the flock in Jerusalem.
But I believe he was called to be a shepherd beyond merely shepherding a local flock. Being an apostle, he moved around, and his shepherding covered a much wider sphere. He wanted to shepherd the whole flock of God.
So he wrote to the elders in these different assemblies. They were shepherding the flock in their local assemblies, and he wrote to them, “I am your fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ.”
These two are joined together. People sometimes like eldership, but let me tell you: suffering is joined to eldership. If you do not want suffering, do not aspire to be an elder.
You can live a much more comfortable life if you are not an elder. If you aspire to be an elder, then be ready to be a witness of the sufferings of Christ.
We all know that the word witness in the original is martyr. Be ready to be a martyr, ready to share in the sufferings of Christ.
Now, we know the sufferings of Christ are very inclusive. There is a part of His suffering that we cannot share with Him.
Christ died as our Substitute. In His atoning death, He trod the winepress alone. Nobody was with Him; nobody could be with Him. So far as that part of suffering is concerned, He is alone. We receive the benefit of His suffering, but we cannot share that suffering.
But there is another part of His suffering in which we are called to have fellowship with Him. Brothers and sisters, we have to be very clear about that.
On the one hand, we cannot share in His atoning sufferings. He did that for us, and we receive the benefit of it. We thank God for it. But on the other hand, there is a wide area of the sufferings of Christ in which we are called to have fellowship with Him—that is, to share with Him.
This witness of the sufferings of Christ does not mean that you merely stand there witnessing, as it were, seeing what is happening to Him. That is true; you have to see that first. But seeing that, you are called into fellowship with Him in His sufferings.
In other words, you are not merely standing there and observing, looking at it. By looking at it, you are drawn into it. You become a part of it, and you become a martyr. You have to die for it.
So, dear brothers and sisters, shepherding and suffering cannot be separated. The only reason why suffering is something you can endure is because there is love.
Love and suffering are inseparable. Wherever there is love, there is bound to be suffering. Parents love their children, and they suffer for their children.
If you do not love, then you do not need to suffer. But if you love, there is bound to be suffering. God so loved the world that He suffered in giving up His only begotten Son, and no one can say how much God suffered.
Christ loved the church and gave Himself for the church. He laid down His life for the sheep, and how He suffered.
Sometimes we think of the sufferings of Christ only in the physical realm, but that is the least part of it. His greatest suffering was on the cross:
My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?
He Who was equal with God, coexisting from eternity, always one, never separated—for those three short hours, the Father and the Son were separated.
Now, He suffered. Why? Why hast Thou forsaken Me? The only answer is one: because God loves, because He loves. That is why it is.
Dear brothers and sisters, whoever is to do the work of shepherding must have the will to suffer. If you do not have the will to suffer, do not do the work of a shepherd. You will not be able to stand it.
But if there is love, love suffers.
You remember the Apostle Paul. In Colossians 1:24, he says:
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His body’s sake, which is the church.
Why? Because he was filling up that which was lacking in the afflictions of Christ in the flesh for His Body, which is the church.
Through the atoning death of Christ, the church is born. But for the church to be built up, to arrive at full growth and at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, you find that God uses people to fill up that which is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the Body’s sake.
Being an elder, of course, this is part of the work: to fill up that which is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the Body’s sake. Through such fellowship with His sufferings, through suffering, there will be something born, brought into being, that will last for eternity.
So, brothers and sisters, the Apostle Peter, being a shepherd himself, knew what he was talking about. He said, “Be ready for suffering.” The sufferings, to the one who loves, are worthwhile.
On that basis, Peter exhorts the elders of the church to exercise oversight over the flock. Now, exercising oversight does not mean that you do everything for them. It means that you oversee.
With the lambs, of course, you have to feed them. But with the sheep, you direct them.
The problem today is that there is something traditional that is not scriptural. It began far back. For instance, after the persecutions were over in the fourth century, Christianity became popular.
The emperor encouraged people to be baptized and join the church. If any soldier under him was willing to be baptized, he would be rewarded with silver and clothes. Who would not do that? You not only received physical benefit, but also the favor of the emperor.
So the church was filled with people, but these people did not know the Lord. Therefore, you had to get someone trained to take care of them. Gradually, you find the priest system in the Catholic Church.
During the Reformation, even Martin Luther preached the universal priesthood of believers. Can you believe that? He really preached the universal priesthood of believers at the time of the Reformation, but it was not taken up.
People like to go the easy way. So they adopted what they found in the Catholic system, and here came the pastor system in the Protestant church. You have a pastor there taking care of everything.
You do not need to do anything, and if you try to do something, well, you will cause problems. It is better that you do not do anything. There is a pastor to take care of everything.
That kind of shepherding is not scriptural. No wonder, with that kind of shepherding, the body does not grow as it should.
Exercising oversight—it is true that you need to set an example, but do not do everything for the brothers and sisters.
Help them. Teach them. Instruct them. Direct them. Let them do the things they should do.
Even though, in the beginning, it is slow and difficult—and you know how to do it and can do it well—it is better not to do it well and let the brothers and sisters do it than to do it well by yourself. That is exercising oversight.
We have already shared in the seminars about these characteristics: not by constraint, but willingly; not for base gain, but readily; not lording it over them as personal property, but being examples to the flock. So I do not think we need to go into these matters again, because our time has already passed.
But, to conclude, in 1 Peter 5:4 we read:
And when the Chief Shepherd shall be manifested, ye shall receive the crown of glory that fadeth not away.
Brothers and sisters, those who do pastoral work, shepherding work, your reward is not now. Your reward is in the future. If you are expecting the reward now, you will be disappointed.
That does not mean that you do not experience joy. You do. When you see a brother restored, you are filled with joy. When a brother is being fed or led, and you see growth, of course you rejoice. That is part of your reward.
But remember, as we balance it again, you will find that there is more sorrow than joy in your experience. So the reward is not now.
Your reward is when the Chief Shepherd is manifested, when the Lord returns. Then, to those who are faithful, He will reward them with the unfading crown of glory.
The background is, of course, the Olympics and the Greek games. After these games, the victors would be crowned with a flowery laurel. But that fades because the flowers fade. It is only a glory for a period; that is all.
But those who do the work of shepherding faithfully, and are willing to suffer for the Lord’s sake and for the Body’s sake, will find that, at the appearing of the Chief Shepherd, they as under-shepherds will be rewarded with an unfading crown of glory.
In 2 Timothy, Paul said:
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith:
henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give to me at that day; and not to me only, but also to all them that have loved His appearing.
In other words, if we really look forward to the coming of the Lord, if we really love His appearing, then we will watch and pray. We will try to walk in the path of righteousness. We will try to do the will of God. Because of that, we will be rewarded with a crown of righteousness.
Then in Revelation 2, you find that the church in Smyrna was faithful even unto death. Therefore, the Lord will reward them with a crown of life.
Here you find that those who suffer with Christ shall share the glory of Christ. So they will be rewarded with an unfading crown of glory.
As we have already said, what is glory? Satisfaction. God is satisfied. And, of course, we ourselves are satisfied.
So, brothers and sisters, this pastoral work is not easy work. So far as today is concerned, it is not very rewarding. It is very much misunderstood, unappreciated, even criticized and rejected.
But it is one of the most essential works for the Body of Christ, and we are all called in some measure into it. Let us look to the Lord that we may do it. Shall we pray?
Dear Heavenly Father, after we have shared, we have to say that unless Thy love constrains us, there is no way. So we just humble ourselves before Thee and say, “Lord, if this is what Thou wantest, work it through us.” In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.