Chaplain’s Corner – July 19,
2011
Rev.
Rich Hines
Jesus Our Chief Shepherd
This message is primarily for those who call on the name of Jesus Christ
as their own Lord and Savior from sin, and serve as a Chaplain or a gospel
minister in a jail, prison or a follow-up ministry such as a rescue mission –
in the
All Scripture quotes are usually taken from the New King James Version
(NKJV) of the Bible, copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. When quoting a text, any
deviation from the NKJV text is placed within parenthesis signs (). These usually occur as direct translations
from the original languages, or as notes from the
original setting to help apply the text to today’s culture.
ALL CAPITAL
LETTERS are sometimes used to emphasize words in a text, or to make a comment
about a biblical text, or emphasize a statement.
Greetings
Christian Chaplains and volunteers.
Continuing our 2011 theme of reminding ourselves and teaching inmates
WHO JESUS IS, this month I want to say TO YOU that - Jesus is a Shepherd. That word “shepherd” is the same as
PASTOR. Scripture calls Him the Great
Shepherd, the Good Shepherd and the CHIEF SHEPHERD.
I want to briefly speak of the first
two titles given to Jesus, the Great Shepherd and the Good Shepherd. THEN, I want to spend the rest of the time on
Jesus as the CHIEF SHEPHERD over all like you – in Christian ministry. He is your CHIEF PASTOR.
First then, as the Great Shepherd (the
Arch-Shepherd, the Arch-Pastor) in Hebrews 13:20-21, we read this final
blessing from the human writer of the Book of Hebrews.
20 Now may the God of peace who brought
up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the
blood of the everlasting covenant,
21 make you complete in every good work
to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through
Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Here, Jesus is called the GREAT
SHEPHERD of the sheep because by virtue of His blood sacrifice unto death, He
confirmed the irrevocable everlasting covenant with all the believers. They are His sheep. That forever covenant is
all about salvation from sin.
The adjective “great” is given to His
Pastoral role over believers, because He is to be large in their lives and they
are to be small. The subsequent
pronouncement of this benediction is that the sheep or believers,
would be complete in every good work doing HIS WILL. The power of the risen Great Shepherd is the
only thing that can make that happen!
Next, we should consider Jesus as the
Good Shepherd in John 10:7-16.
There He spoke of His role as the Good
Shepherd of God’s sheep - in contrast to bad, false shepherds that did not care
for or love God’s flock. Note these verses:
7 Then Jesus said to them again, “Most
assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
8 All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.
9 I am THE DOOR. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find
pasture.
In ancient
But the fence had no hinge or
constructed door. The shepherd himself
would sit or stand in the opening and be a human door. No sheep could get in or out of the sheepfold
EXCEPT through the shepherd who knew each and every one of his sheep.
As the Door for His Sheep, Jesus
protects them from harm and proves He is their true Shepherd. Ultimately in protecting true believers, true
sheep, Jesus as the GOOD SHEPHERD gave His life to save them. Note it in verses 10-16
10 The thief does not come except to
steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and
that they may have it more abundantly.
11 “I am the
good shepherd. THE GOOD SHEPHERD
GIVES HIS LIFE FOR THE SHEEP.
12 But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd,
one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and
flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.
13 The hireling flees because he is a
hireling and does not care about the sheep.
14 I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.
15 As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR
THE SHEEP.
16 And other sheep I have which are not
of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My
voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.
This passage is stressing that - in
contrast to bad, false shepherds like the religious leaders of His time, Jesus
was the real true Shepherd that saves His sheep by dying for them
Having said all of that, I want you, as
ministers and Christian Pastors to inmates to remember two things that
relate to Jesus being your Chief Shepherd.
The first is that Jesus is the MODEL
SHEPHERD you are to copy. You are a
shepherd or pastor of inmate believers, and your leadership of His sheep should
follow His example. Jesus Himself was the greatest example of the instruction
on how to pastor given in verses 2-3 of our main text below.
The second thing about Jesus as your Chief Shepherd is that one day He
will judge all the under-shepherds on HOW THEY PERFORMED THEIR PASTORAL DUTY OR
HOW THEY SHEPHERDED HIS FLOCK! He will
hold each of you accountable for how you as an under-shepherd handled His
sheep.
Note it in our
MAIN TEXT for this month, 1 Peter 5:1-4.
1 The elders
who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the
sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed:
2 Shepherd the
flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but
willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly;
3 nor as being
lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock;
4 and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will
receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.
Examining this
passage, I want you to understand something important about the New Testament
teaching on church leaders. According to
the God-breathed out Scripture, there are three different words that describe
the same man, and the same office.
The words or
various names for the same person and the same office are: Elder, Pastor
(Shepherd) and Overseer (sometimes translated ‘Bishop’).
These terms
all apply TO THE SAME MAN. As a
Christian minister of the gospel to inmates (ESPECIALLY Christian inmates) who
look to you for leadership and direction in the Christian life, THEY APPLY TO
YOU! I have said this before but THIS IS
IMPORTANT TO YOU, a Chaplain (volunteer or paid) IS TO BE A PASTOR TO INMATES.
Forms of these
three NT words are all in this passage.
Two are verb forms of the nouns (Pastor and Overseer) and the third, which
occurs in verse 1, is the name of the office, “Elders.” So, said another way, according to the New
Testament, a Christian Pastor is an Elder and an Overseer (Bishop).
This is a
serious and heavy calling. You need to make
sure you qualify biblically for the office according to 1
Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9.
Now look with me a bit closer at this main passage for this month’s
message. Verse 1 says:
1 The elders
who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the
sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed:
In Verse 1,
the Apostle Peter related to local church leaders as simply a “fellow
elder.” Another way to translate that is
a “co-elder.” Peter was an Apostle,
which meant he was given some special things to do, like laying down the NT
doctrine. But in terms of church
function, he was not ABOVE other men that led local bodies of believers.
The main thing
Peter started to do in verse 1, was then TO EXHORT all
other Christian elders (pastors and overseer-bishops). This word, exhort, means to encourage to action. The Holy Spirit even gave Peter this word as
a present tense verb, meaning He wants to continually exhort elders
(pastor-overseers) to the actions and attitudes described in verses 2-3. Here then is what the Holy Spirit through
Jesus’ Apostle is saying to you too -
2 Shepherd the
flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but
willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly;
3 nor as being
lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock;
You are to
shepherd or pastor, and oversee God’s flock.
The main thing here is the COMMAND to shepherd Christians where you
serve. As you do that, you are to be
constantly overseeing the believers.
The concept of
shepherding includes feeding them
God’s word, helping them when they
are sick (spiritually) and protecting
them from spiritually dangerous people (wolves).
There are
three positives involved in doing this and there are three warnings, or
negatives, about how NOT to do it.
Look at the
positives first. In verse 2, you are to
shepherd Christ’s flock WILLINGLY and EAGERLY, then in verse 3, you are to BE A
GOOD EXAMPLE.
Willingly means ‘of one’s own accord.’ It pictures a heartfelt desire. The earliest copies of the
original manuscript adds the following to willingly, “according to the will of God.” So altogether the idea is to have your own will line up with
Christ’s will in caring for His flock! Eagerly carries the idea of a readiness
to do something rather than a feeling of not even wanting to prepare to do
something because you really don’t want to have to do it.
A
pastor-elder-overseer needs to be with their people. They need to exemplify the Christian walk to
the believers under their care. Verse 3
says you are to be an EXAMPLE TO THE FLOCK.
A comparison
to a similar passage in 1 Timothy 4:12 (NASB), calls Christian pastors to “show yourself an example of those who
believe.” Part of your responsibility is
to model for the inmates just HOW a Christian is to behave. Those are the positive ways of shepherding
the Chief Shepherd’s flock.
Now verses 2-3 also call Chaplains and Christian
leaders in correctional ministry - to NOT BE DOING some things. These verses warn you against the following
things which I will EMPHASIZE by looking at the passage again.
2 Shepherd the
flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, NOT BY COMPULSION but willingly, NOT FOR DISHONEST GAIN but eagerly;
3 NOR AS BEING LORDS OVER THOSE ENTRUSTED TO
YOU, but being examples to the flock;
The things you
are commanded as an under-shepherd not to have as attitudes and then actions
that come out of those attitudes - are sadly, things that too many in “Christian
ministry” have had and have done.
First, shepherding
“not by compulsion,” means not with
a feeling of being FORCED to do it against your will. If God has truly called you to pastor inmates,
He will change your heart so that you really WANT TO DO IT. No one should ever be in the ministry to
inmates that does not have a God-given deep desire to do it.
The remaining
two prohibitions in this text on shepherding the Chief Shepherd’s flock, are in other Scripture passages shown to be characteristics
of FALSE TEACHERS. They are into
ministry for money and as an opportunity to serve their own pride.
Pastor them
with eager readiness but NEVER ”for dishonest gain.” One of the qualifications for elders listed
in both 1 Timothy 3:3 and Titus 1:7 is “not covetous (not with a love for
silver)…not greedy for money.” As a
minister of the gospel, according to
passages like 1
Corinthians 9:4-14, you have a right to be paid a living for your gospel
ministry, BUT THAT SHOULD NEVER BE YOUR MAIN FOCUS.
I know many
involved in biblical chaplaincy are under-paid.
At the same time God promises to supply your NEEDS, when you serve as
His ministers according to biblical direction.
So, the application of not being in the ministry JUST for money, or as a
covering for getting a lot of money by scamming people (like the ancient Chief
Priests and Pharisees did) is to TRUST GOD to give you what you need. Never
put a price tag on your ministry. If
people ask your needs, then tell them, but AVOID hiring yourself out for a
heavy fee.
Not “as being lords over those entrusted to you,” is a
prohibition against manifesting pride in pastoral ministry. Jesus taught the disciples on this in Mark 10:42-45
which reads:
42 … Jesus called them to Himself and said to
them, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it
over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.
43 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever
desires to become great among you shall be your servant.
44 And whoever of you desires to be first shall be
slave of all.
45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served,
but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
The pastorate including chaplaincy should NEVER be
for your own aggrandizement. When the
Apostle Paul spoke of gospel ministers he said this about what their motive and
attitude was, “Not that we have dominion over your faith, but are fellow
workers for your joy;” (2 Cor. 1:24).
In first century Jewish religion, the Chief Priests
and Pharisees were guilty of pride and out of that pride lording
their ministry position OVER the people.
Jesus taught His followers NOT to be like them in Matthew 23:6-13. Note the following words He spoke against
them in Matt. 23:6-8.
6 They love the best places at feasts, the best seats
in the synagogues,
7 greetings in the marketplaces,
and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’
8 But you, (Jesus’ followers) do not be called
‘Rabbi’; …”
Now all of 1 Peter 5:1-3 builds up to verse 4, which
in conclusion to the instruction given to elders about their pastoring says:
4 and when the Chief
Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade
away.
That means
when Jesus returns He will EXAMINE all those in church leadership. He will examine all of you that are in
chaplaincy. Those that have followed the
teaching and obeyed its commands on how
to shepherd and HOW NOT to shepherd Christian believers will receive a
reward from Him – because HE IS THEIR CHIEF SHEPHERD.
If Jesus would
return today or next week, would you receive the unfading crown of glory from
Him? If not, you MUST change the way you
do ministry to fit the biblical instruction given in 1 Peter 5:1-4.
Rich Hines, Minister to Chaplains,