Making of a Man or Woman of God: The Heart of a Shepherd

Key Thought: Sheep tend to exemplify their shepherd.

Introduction: Read Isa. 52:13-53:12; 61:1-3; Luke 4:18-19

God’s leaders are given many titles in the Old and New Testaments, but the term “shepherd” is of particular
importance to God. The shepherd is tender, sincere, intimate, loving, and cares for his flock. Unfortunately,
church leadership has often called up images of authority and administration. Church leaders have often abused
their titles, i.e. bishop, for dictatorial ends. What the Church needs today are spiritual shepherds to heal the
broken-hearted and bind up the wounds of the hurt. Therefore, to please the Lord, a shepherd’s heart is
required in all leadership ministries but especially in governmental ministries. God has called and appointed
leaders, under-shepherds, to continue the work of leadership that Jesus began.

I. In the O.T., we see Jehovah God as the Great Shepherd. (Read: Ezek. 34; Psa. 23: 1-6)

A. A shepherd is a man who takes care of the sheep.

1. Jehovah God was a spiritual guide, friend, and companion who took care of and protected His
sheep.

2. He illustrates to all spiritual shepherds the proper attitudes and actions that are necessary to
shepherd the people of God.

II. In the New Testament, Jesus Christ is our Example

I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me-just as the Father knows me and I know
the Father-and I lay down my life for the sheep. (John 10:14, 15)

A. Jesus is called the great Shepherd (Hebrews 13:20) and the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4).

1. He was prepared to come and be a sacrificial lamb that we might be accepted by the living God
(John 1:29).

2. This shows us the purity of His motives and should be an example to us all. He did not come for His
own glory-He came for us.

B. Jesus owns His sheep (those who are believers) and leads them (Revelation 7:17), giving them
everything they need (1 Peter 2:25).
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17For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of
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living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

4Ekselans School of Ministry: Institute for the Formation of Christian Leaders 2013-2015
 Making of a Man or Woman of God: The Heart of a Shepherd

25For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer
of your souls.

1. He provides for His people directly. Jesus looked for the sheep with needs, and He identified those
needs. Then, He was not satisfied until He met the spiritual needs of each sheep.

2. He also provides for them through others like the leaders He has chosen.

C. Jesus is the ultimate example of the type of character God wants His people to have and how He wants
them to live.

1. The gospels tell us much about Jesus. It has been calculated, however, that they only cover 33 or
34 days of Jesus' three and a half year ministry period.

2. How much more He said and did can never be known, but John suggests it was a vast amount (John
21:25).

3. Jesus seems to have spent much of this time training leaders to carry on His work after He was
gone.

 The fact that He committed so much of His valuable time to this exercise means that it must
have been important.

 His main teaching method was to do the work of God and, thereby, set an example after
which those He was teaching could follow.

 He also would do something and then explain how He did it, or He would make an
observation and then explain what it meant and how to live in the good of it.

 Leaders today can still learn much by studying what is revealed of the life of Jesus in the
Bible.

D. Jesus can be thought of as a paradigm. This is an example, template or pattern from which other
identical objects are made. We should view Jesus as our paradigm, and seek to be like Him by yielding our
lives into God's hands, allowing Him to do whatever is necessary in our lives, and obeying Him whenever
He asks us to do something for Him.

III. Following the Example

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Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and
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imitate their faith. (Hebrews 13:7)

4Ekselans School of Ministry: Institute for the Formation of Christian Leaders 2013-2015
 Making of a Man or Woman of God: The Heart of a Shepherd

A. God's leaders are given many titles in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Some these titles are
bishop, presbyter, priest, preacher, and shepherd.

1. Each word has a history and significance of its own.

2. But the term "shepherd" has a particular importance to God. Interestingly, the word "shepherd" has
probably seen the least use of all these titles throughout church history, probably because it represents
ministerial function most lacking in the Church.

3. At times, the Church has obviously lacked true ministerial function of the "shepherd": tender, sincere,
intimate, loving, spiritual care shepherd for his flock. Fortunately, God is again greatly emphasizing this
most significant aspect of ministry.

B. A shepherd's heart is a required attitude in all leadership ministries, and especially in governmental ministries.

1. This does not make it either less desirable or less valuable in a congregational ministry. What better way
to be a Christian, a "Christ-like one," than to love the Church as Christ loves her?

2. If you want to understand Christian leadership, if you want to know Christ, you'll want study what the
Bible has to say about the heart of a shepherd.

C. Church leaders have an awesome responsibility in the light of what God requires of them.

1. They need to model the right behavior and so live lives that are an example to their flock and
which their flock will follow.

 This behavior is expressed in the qualifications for church leadership (1 Timothy 3:1-7; 1
Timothy 4:11-16; 2 Timothy 3:10-14; Titus 1:5-9; 1 Peter 5:1-4).

 God's leaders, therefore, need to seek after Him and put Him first in everything they do
(Philippians 3:7-15). God should be their priority and they should have His priorities.

2. Every leader needs to realize, that to some extent, they are going to reproduce themselves in
those who follow them. They also need to remember that not only their strengths, but also their
weaknesses, will be reproduced.

 For example, if a leadership is courageous, it will be far more likely that those they lead will
exhibit the same quality and vice versa.
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 This truth should not put a leader into the bondage of over-consciousness, but it should cause
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them to examine their lives very carefully and seek to live in such a way that they are able to
reproduce the life of Christ in those they lead.

4Ekselans School of Ministry: Institute for the Formation of Christian Leaders 2013-2015
 Making of a Man or Woman of God: The Heart of a Shepherd

3. Leaders must realize that they alone will not be sufficient to provide all the ministry which the
group they lead will need in order to grow into maturity in Christ.

 Every Christian needs to grow in his relationship with God and to be influenced by all the
Ephesians 4:11 ministry gifts in order to progressively become more Christ-like (Ephesians
4:11-16).

 God does not allow individuals to accomplish everything on their own; He spreads the work
around and, thereby, encourages interdependence (i.e. depending on each other) and mutual
submission (even mutual submission between leadership).

4. Leaders need to aim to develop a more Christ-like character, day by day.

 This is what the Scriptures mean when they tell us to aim for perfection, because Jesus was
the only perfect human being (Philippians 3:12).

12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on
to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

 The more God's leaders do this, the more they will be able to function as He did-exercising
the power of God in order to achieve the will of God (John 14:12).

 Leaders need to set the pattern for their flock of aiming to be more Christ-like.

5. Leaders need to remember that God sent His Holy Spirit and gave us His Word to enable His
people to become more like Jesus. They, therefore, need to be able to work with God as they
seek to enable those they lead to become more Christ-like (Matthew 5:48; Romans 12:1,2; 2
Corinthians 3:18; Ephesians 4:11-24; Colossians 3:10).

6. It must also be remembered that God's under-shepherds or leaders do not own their flock. Only
God Himself owns the sheep and leaders are simply His accountable stewards.

IV. Functioning as a shepherd (1 Peter 5: 2-4)

Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers-not because you must, but because
you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over
those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will
receive the crown of glory that will never fade away. (1 Peter 5:2-4)
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A. To motivate their people a leader/shepherd should:

4Ekselans School of Ministry: Institute for the Formation of Christian Leaders 2013-2015
 Making of a Man or Woman of God: The Heart of a Shepherd

1. Not ask anything of their sheep that they are not prepared to do themselves (if gifted in that
way)

2. Know their sheep; people are more important than numbers.

3. Allow their sheep to get to know them, because sheep do not follow strangers.

 Leaders must be able to get their people to respond to their leadership.

 Their aim in leading should be to help form Christ's character in the lives of those they lead
and help fit them for the task God has got for them to do. Leaders should ask God for wisdom
(James 1:5-8), because people will follow those who offer true godly wisdom.

5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it
will be given to him. 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a
wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from
the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

 Leaders need to let their sheep know that the flock is not master of the shepherd. The leader
may be there as a servant of the flock on Christ's behalf, but they are not there to be walked
all over; they are God's delegated authority over the group.

4. Go before their sheep preparing the way for them to follow.

 Need to be proactive; we can’t just respond to casualties and problems.

 Leaders need to discover the green pastures by going ahead of their sheep, and then they need to
assess them to see if they are good and right for their sheep.

 Leaders also need to lead their sheep to quiet, restful waters which they have examined and found
to be clean and pure for their sheep.

 Leaders need to know where the danger spots are by travelling first along the road on which they
will take their sheep. They then need to help their sheep to negotiate the road safely.

 All people reap what they sow over the years-whether good or bad. Leaders must, therefore, sow
now for the future or they will get stuck and stagnate. Leaders need to sow into their lives now,
what they want to take other people into, in the future.
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4Ekselans School of Ministry: Institute for the Formation of Christian Leaders 2013-2015
 Making of a Man or Woman of God: The Heart of a Shepherd

5. Give their life to the sheep.

 Leaders need to avoid professionalism in their approach to leadership, because such people tend to
function rather than impart life.

 Professional Christian leaders, who lead for the money, for position, or as a career, will never lay
down their life for those they lead.

6. Be committed to the flock.

 There may be some sheep trying to follow, who are not a part of your flock.

 Should not spend too much time and energy on these people, but rather should let them go so they
can find the shepherd God has appointed to them.

 Leaders who are committed to their people encourage them to be committed to him as well. Even
though the flock is not yours, you are God’s under-shepherd so you should expect the sheep to
commit to you and honor the position God has placed you in.

7. Unite their sheep

 The body of Christ needs to function as an integrated, interrelated, interdependent whole.

 Look for dis-unifying factors and deal with them as the Lord directs.

 Continually encourage unity.

 Leaders need to know how to get the group to focus their attention on God and His purposes.

Leaders who can accomplish this will stop those who were going to leave the group against the
Lord’s will; then only those whom God wants to leave will leave.

 It is the shepherd’s job to keep the sheep together and go after even the one who is lost.

 Divided scattered sheep are easy prey for the enemy.

o Actively decide that you want unity as a leader and decide what you can reasonably do to work
towards it.
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o Allow God’s grace to grow and flow, putting the past behind.
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4Ekselans School of Ministry: Institute for the Formation of Christian Leaders 2013-2015
 Making of a Man or Woman of God: The Heart of a Shepherd

o Allow them to see and feel God’s love in your life.

o Do not lose heart if things don’t move as rapidly as you would like.

o Be secure in your relationship and fellowship with the Lord; look to Him for approval and not to
people.

o Actively pursue peace.

o Pray for unity.

8. Feed their sheep

 Sheep who have a satisfying diet are less likely to wander away. They also tend to be healthy and
productive.

 Changing the diet of teaching or ministry too quickly can be disruptive and damaging for many
people.

 Vary the diet of teaching and give to the people what they need, neither too little nor too much, and
not all the same.

 Leaders need to discern their people’s growth levels and feed them appropriately.

 Give a balanced diet of practical, devotional, inspirational, and instructional food in order to enable
proper growth.

9. Comfort and heal their sheep when they need it. (Shepherd-Physician)

 The word “physician” means a person that heals, relieves or comforts.

o Comfort by pulling out a thorn or cutting its wool.

o In the Hebrew language, the physician was one who mends by stitching, cures, causes healing,
repairs and makes whole.

o In the Greek, the concept means to make whole, and to set free by curing.
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o Like other creatures, sheep can experience sickness or disease and unforeseen accidents or
misfortunes.
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4Ekselans School of Ministry: Institute for the Formation of Christian Leaders 2013-2015
 Making of a Man or Woman of God: The Heart of a Shepherd

 The spiritual shepherd is to heal the broken-hearted and mend the torn.

 There are many sick people in the church today. They suffer in any number of ways – emotionally,
spiritually, mentally, and physically.

 Unfortunately, too many “ministers” are of little value to the flock because they cannot discern the
spiritual needs of the sheep.

 Discipline those who follow and help them to overcome any unproductive areas of their lives.

 Minister to those who need ministry in the right way and the right time.

 Have a heart of compassion and empathy when people fail or falter. Don’t harden your heart.

10. Guard, protect and fight for the sheep. (Shepherd-Watchman & Shepherd-Protector)

 Natural shepherds build observation towers to watch for flash floods and predators.

o Sheep are among the most defenseless of animals with no natural weapons for attack.

o They are one of the only animals completely dependent on a human protector.

o Sheep are also very ignorant about personal survival in the wilderness.

 Understand the signs of the times and always be watchful for enemy attack; a leader needs to be
ready to beat off the attacks.

o Leaders lay down their own wishes and desires to stand in the gap for the people.

o Protect from enemy attack by being watchful and vigilant.

 A shepherd cannot take the day off when he is on duty; neither can leaders.

 Provide a good spiritual home.

11. Direct their sheep (Shepherd-Guide).

 Sheep are not independent travelers. They have no sense of direction.

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Apart from the flock, they wander in circles until taken by predators.
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4Ekselans School of Ministry: Institute for the Formation of Christian Leaders 2013-2015
 Making of a Man or Woman of God: The Heart of a Shepherd

o Conditions in the wilderness are harsh and sheep can die of starvation or thirst without the
shepherd to lead them.

o They are sensitive animals that cannot be driven hard. (See Gen. 33: 9-15)

o Prevent them from going astray and wandering aimlessly.

 Keep the sheep together.

 Sometimes the leading needs to be firm; and at other times gentle and patient.

 Leaders should never drive their flocks or put too much pressure on them.

12. Restore their sheep.

 Keep an eye on the sheep and help them overcome any faults or hurts they discover.

 Some you may have to carry close to your heart.

B. What not to do (Ezek. 34. 1-31) (Read Hireling vs. Shepherd)

1. The shepherds in this passage only cared about enriching and advancing themselves and making
themselves great. They took no care or responsibility for those who were committed to their charge
and, therefore, the flock was in a sorry state.

2. God does not want hired hands to look after his sheep (Jn. 10:12-13). Hired hands are those who do it
for the money or position and therefore when the going gets rough, they abandon their flock.

11“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12The hired hand is not the
shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then
the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for
the sheep.

 These leaders are ambitious for position, power, or money and they often use their flock to achieve
their own ends.

 They usually do not have the call of God on their lives and they certainly do not have the
characteristics of a shepherd.

 They don’t have time to get to know their sheep and their needs; and they are not willing to
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sacrifice.
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 They are unfaithful and cannot be trusted.

4Ekselans School of Ministry: Institute for the Formation of Christian Leaders 2013-2015
 Making of a Man or Woman of God: The Heart of a Shepherd

 They tend to neglect the sheep.

 They dominate and drive the sheep, so as to achieve their own purposes.

C. Guard your heart: The heart of the shepherd is the closest thing to the heart of God for His Church. The
Christian leader must do more than understand this. He must live it.

HOMEWORK: REFLECTION ACTIVITY

1. Sheep are imitators, e.g. if one jumps, they all jump. What do you give those you lead, to imitate?

2. Read John 10:1-18; and write down the characteristics and actions of the type of shepherd Jesus
was and the type of shepherd God wants you, as a leader, to be.

3. Read Psalm 23. If God is the best example of what a shepherd should be like and what they should
do, what can we, as leaders, learn from this psalm as we seek to be shepherds of God's people?

4. Do you want your group to be successful so that you get noticed by those who are over you in
leadership? Do you want to lead? What is your reason/s for wanting to lead?

5. Do you selflessly give of yourself to your group? Do you make yourself available when those you
lead need you? Do you pray regularly for those you lead?

6. Are you the type of leader who seems to know when members of your group need your help? If
not, why not? What can you do to improve your discernment in this area?

7. On what sort of diet do you feed your group? Is it a well-balanced diet? Is the group growing more
Christ-like as a result of what you feed to it? How could you improve in this area?

8. Is the group you lead achieving the things that it set out to achieve? If not, why not? Is the group
trying to achieve anything?
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4Ekselans School of Ministry: Institute for the Formation of Christian Leaders 2013-2015