The Shepherd Preacher

In his new memoir Outsider Looking In, Gary Wills, leftist intellectual and former conservative journalist, made an interesting observation about politicians who try to become academics after they leave office. 

 “Politicians live for contact with people. They lose the gift for contemplation, or research, or simple reading. Being alone with a book is a way to die for many of them.”

Real shepherds know the sheep, live with the sheep, and even eat the same sheep food. This sort of life demands both public engagement with real people and meaningful private moments alone with piles of books. In churches we have code language that goes something like this. If the guy is warm and friendly but can’t preach to save his life, it is said of him that “he has a pastor’s heart.” Conversely, many wonderfully skilled expositors are nothing more than full-time conference speakers who drop into their congregations most Sundays and deliver a conference-like message. In short, if our vocation hovers anywhere near the end of Ephesians 4:11 we need to embrace the full weight of what it means to be a pastor and the commitment involved for those who are called to teach the Word. Are you a pastor or a teacher? The answer should be “both.”  God calls pastors to shepherd the flock with their fellow elders (1 Peter 5) and to preach and teach the whole counsel of God (1-2 Timothy)

Shepherding a Fool

Shepherding a Fool
Article by Pastor Daron Roberts

"Over the past few years I have had the privilege of teaching through Proverbs.. During this study I have been uniquely impacted by the amount of time Solomon spends describing the “fool.” In fact, Solomon stretches out roughly 70 descriptions of a fool in Proverbs alone. As pastors, while we labor to implant wisdom to the humble and help the naive put a truth-filter on their minds—as well as guard against scoffers infecting the thinking of the vulnerable—we also find ourselves regularly ministering to those who are entangled in folly. These people are either categorical “fools” (i.e., lost in their folly, rebels at the core, and in desperate need of Christ as their Savior) or they are sheep who are acting like fools and in need of tender shepherding to help them shed their foolish ways. As any pastor knows, before we can help people learn what they must put on, we must first help them identify what to put off. And for a fool (or someone being foolish) that requires specific passages applied to specific tendencies in order to help them indict themselves and grow. Based on that need, below is a list of 25 characteristics from Proverbs that have been an aid to me in pastoral ministry—and with my kids—in shepherding a fool. 

25 Characteristics of a Fool from Proverbs 

1. They rebel against authorities (10:1; 15:5; 19:13). 
2. They view their opinion as an authority over Scripture (26:12).
3. They are stubborn when instructed by Scripture (1:22; 8:5; 13:19; 14:33; 16:22; 17:10; 24:7).
4. They spout their opinion rather than receive instruction (10:8,10,14,21; 14:9; 12:15; 18:2; 23:9; 26:4-5).
5. They twist Scripture for personal gain (26:7, 9).
6. Their lives are full of unnecessary correction (7:22; 14:3; 19:29). 
7. They learn nothing from the consequences of sin (14:24; 26:11; 26:3; 27:22).
8. They do not fear God (1:22-29).
9. They are lazy (1:32).
10. They are hypocrites (17:16).
11. They are consumers (21:20).
12. They are deceptive (14:8; 18:7; 19:1). 
13. Their speech lacks love (15:2). 
14. They are impulsive (12:23; 13:16; 29:20).
15. They abuse information (10:18; 15:14; 18:6; 26:6). 
16. They are arrogant (14:16).

Shepherding the Flock During the Week: Sermon Study Packets

When you visit the dentist they always send you home with what?  A tooth brush, tooth paste, and floss (hint, hint).  I have yet to find a dentist who will come to my home each week to brush my teeth.  Oh  the nerve. :)  Our weekly sermon packets at LCBC are intended, in some ways, to function as a spiritual dental kits.

What brought about the weekly sermon study guides?  When I started my new ministry over a year ago established members graciously shared that they had grown accustom to Pastor Sal’s PowerPoint presentation that went along with his sermons.  Some of these members explained that it would help them acclimate to the new Senior Pastor’s style of preaching if I provided a listener handouts or utilized PowerPoint.  As a new minister you attempt to do what you can to make transitions like this as easy as you can on the existing flock (by God's grace it's been a nearly seamless transition).  Hence the four page weekly sermon packets.

Why invest time each week putting together such lengthy packets and why do we encourage each of you to spend at least one morning or evening reviewing your sermon notes via this packet? We do so to help with these five things: 1) Comprehension, 2) Clarification, 3) Application, 4) Shepherding care, and 5) Praise and Adoration.

1) Comprehension- I want to help the listener follow along as the sermon is being preached. One can’t grasp everything- but I prayerfully desire that my flock will process as much as they can and that they'll understand the key points of the inspired Text.  The meaning of Scripture is the Scripture.  It's why 2 Timothy 2:15 is such an important verse.  If you get the authorial intent wrong you are more likely to offer up the wrong application.  This ties right in with reason number two- clarification.

"I'm Just Not Getting Much Out Of My Preacher's Sermons..." (pt. 2)

BORING!

What's a Christian to do if they are just not getting much out of their preacher's sermons?  In some cases, it may be helpful to share this loving concern with one's pastor.  If you choose to do this, provide a few specific examples to help your shepherd understand more specifically where you are coming from.  Do this with humility and bathe everything in prayer (Prov. 3:5-6). Having said that, before setting up such a meeting you should acknowledge that the difficulties your experiencing may reside as much in your own heart/mind, or in your own unrealistic and/or unbiblical expectations, as it does in the human mouthpiece of the Word (note 1 Peter 4:10-11).  One must evaluate each situation on a case by case basis.  Of course in many real world situations the matter is both/and rather than either/or.

Biblical humility should temper your criticisms with the honest acknowledgement that your pastor has invested 4-8 years of his life via bible college and seminary and to countless hours preparing weekly expositions.   I remind myself of this very principle when walking into a medical clinic. Before informing my doctor that "I don't think he's doing his job right and needs to do this or that" I realize that the few hours I spent on Web M.D. does not make me a "subject matter expert" in medicine.  That's not to say we should never question a doctor.  Some medical professionals are really poor in what they do and we would be foolish to not get a second opinion (or to find another doctor all together).

In this vein, if your preacher has not received received adequate ministry training he may need to "go back to school" before assuming such a huge responsibility as is feeding the flock of Christ (see John 21).  Note Clint Archer's helpful article on "should men go to seminary before leading the church of Christ.".

Having said that, those in the pew should be humble enough to listen to their pastor's thoughts knowing that he's likely spent hundreds of hours reading books on expository preaching, has invested thousands of hours listening to classroom lectures on theology, hermeneutics, counseling, Scripture, and homiletics, and probably benefits from many of the same well known preachers that you do.  What Christian doesn't love the preaching ministries of Alistair Begg, Steve Lawson, and John MacArthur?  

On this note, one of the present dangers of the internet and the proliferation of "celebrity pastors" is that some Christians expect their local church preacher to sound just like you fill in the blank; not realizing that God does not give "five talents" to every servant (Matt. 25:14-30) and has given each individual a unique personality/style.  If your preacher does not herald the Word as well as John MacArthur (join the camp), this does not mean that this brother has not been called to the ministry.   All believers are expected to be faithful stewards of the talents that have been sovereignly dispensed on them by the Lord of the Church (see 1 Cor. 12-14; 1 Pet. 4:10-11; 1 Tim. 3:1f).  In this same vein, if you expect your praise leader(s) to sing like Matt Boswell or Chris Tomlin, or to write arrangements like Fernando Ortega or Bob Kauflin, you are setting yourself up for being a church member who is never content.  Be biblically realistic and remind yourself that the power ultimately resides in the Word of God not in the heralds of His Word!