What made these three men the life-changing pastors they were?

“When (pastors) measure whether or not (they) are successful, it must be by this criterion, namely, are we seeing the saints growing to completeness in Jesus Christ?” R. Albert Mohler, Jr., Feed My Sheep

Matthew 9.35-38:

“Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness. Seeing the crowds, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He *said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore, plead with the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.’”

WHEN POWER ISN’T ENOUGH

Matthew 9 describes the ministry of Jesus as proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom and healing the sick.

At this point, wherever Evangelist Jesus set His foot, His preaching was effective, and His healing ministry was powerful. The proclamation and power of the Kingdom of God were present.

Despite this great success, Pastor Jesus was troubled: The people who responded to His preaching and benefited from His healing were distressed and downcast, weary and feeling abandoned.

Seeing this, Jesus felt compassion for them. His solution to their situation?

No, not more proclamation and power.

But a pastor. Jesus’ solution was a Jeremiah 3.15 “shepherd after God’s own heart.”

The people’s need was not only for the proclamation and power of the Kingdom, but for a pastor.

“He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast, like sheep without a shepherd.”

The people of God lacked the ministry of a pastor in their individual lives and community.

REALLY?

With the power of God present, healing the sick and revealing the Reign of God, is a pastor really all that important, you might ask?

Evidently. That’s what Jesus says in Matthew 9.36.

In this brief but strong statement, Jesus tells us that pastoral ministry is:

An expression of the love of God for His people;

And essential for the well-being of His people.

Consider this.

Each of us is formed by God with a need for a mother. When she is not present in our lives, health and wholeness become difficult. especially when we are young, but even as adults.

Each of us is formed by God with a need for a father. When he is not present in our lives, health and wholeness become difficult. especially when we are young, but even as adults.

And according to the Bible, every believer is formed by God with a need for a pastor. When a pastor is not present in our lives, health and wholeness become difficult, especially when we are young, but even as adults.

God’s people will always need the proclamation of and instruction in the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

God’s people will always need His healing ministry.

And God’s people will always need a pastor. A shepherd. So says the Good Shepherd.

A mother brings a unique package of “ministry” to her children, as does a father. The two are not interchangeable. Each one is unique in what they give to their children throughout their lifetime.

Just so, is the ministry of a pastor.

In Matthew 9.36-38, tells us that a pastor’s role is to protect and provide:

Protect the sheep from weariness and scattering;

Provide the sheep with strength and unity.

A TALE OF TWO PASTORS

Jesus follows up His general observation in Matthew 9 on the role of a pastor with more specific instruction in John 10. 1-18 . He does so using contract in A Tale of Two Pastors:

The shepherd after God’s own heart. vs. the hireling pastor.

Consider first the characteristics of the hireling pastor.

1. He operates by force rather than relationship. (10.1)

2. He will not submit to authority, but looks for ways around it. (10.1)

3. He imposes his will on the situation instead of humbling himself, accepting, and waiting. (10.1)

4. His motivation is not to serve, but to take through hidden means or even brute force. (10.1)

5. He doesn’t declare the words of God, but his own. (10.4-5)

6. He doesn’t lead in the Shepherd’s way, but “another way,” his own way, the robber’s way. (10.1)

7. He works alone, independent of other shepherds. (10.1)

8. He has no personal bond with the sheep; he simply uses them for his own purposes. (10.12)

9. He doesn’t defend the sheep; he abandons them when they are threatened, even more, when he is threatened. (10.13)

10. He is not in pastoring for the sake of the sheep, but for selfish reasons. (10.13)

11. His ministry is one of the hands, not the heart (10.12)

12. He doesn’t resemble the Good Shepherds in character or ministry. (10.1-18)

End of the story of the hireling: He has little heart or time for God or His people. He uses them for his own purposes.

Consider then the shepherd after God’s own heart:

1. He serves at the call of the Good Shepherd. He lives in submission and humility before Him. (10.2)

2. He is known by his relationship with the Father and then by his relationship with the sheep. (10.2, 15)

3. He knows his sheep by name and more, he knows them. (10.3)

4. He leads rather than drives his sheep, and does so with personal presence and relationship. (10.4)

5. He leads the sheep nowhere he is not going first – he leads from the front, not the back. (10.4)

6. His efforts are focused on the sheep, that they have life and always in more abundance. (10.10)

7. He gives his life in day-to-day service for the sheep. (10.11,15)

8. He holds the sheep as his own and they hold him; they belong to one another. (10.12)

9. He protects the sheep with his own life. (10.12)

10. His heart is burdened for the well-being of the sheep. (10.13)

11. He knows – knows – the Heavenly Father of all shepherds and sheep. (10.15)

12. He shepherds his sheep with all his heart, but his eyes and heart are ever on the sheep of other folds who also need the Good Shepherd. (10.16)

End of the story for the shepherd after God’s own heart: He diligently learns Christ that he might faithfully lead God’s sheep.

“Every time we look upon our congregations, let us believingly remember that they are the purchase of Christ’s blood, and therefore should be regarded by us with the deepest interest and the most tender affection.” Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor

PRACTICAL WISDOM FOR PASTORS

The distinction between the hireling and the shepherd after God’s own heart is clear. No subtlety there.

But there is a subtle shading that can fall across a pastor’s heart, transforming the Jeremiah 3.15 shepherd into a hireling. It is a shadow as subtle as a garden snake.

And if not careful, before he knows it, the shepherd-after-God’s-own-heart can wake up and wonder what has happened to him. Or worse yet, not wake up and wonder. I’ve seen it among pastors of my generation and even pastors I have coached.

Even more, I’ve felt that cold shadow myself.

What can we do to guard against this ad remain a shepherd after God’s own heart?

Here is some practical advice.

1. Be a passionate follower of Jesus Christ. A pastor’s #1 mission and ministry. No exceptions. Never. Every day and in every way, cry out, “My heart is fixed on you, my Lord and Savior.” Remember your chains and worship the One who set you free.

2. Be a shepherd Not a CEO, brand builder, social media influencer, or celebrity. Be a Bethlehem-to-Calvary shepherd. Only then can you be an Empty Tomb pastor.

3. Be content
Be content but never satisfied in your personal growth in Christ, your pastoral growth for Christ.

4. Be yourself
Don’t be self-focused as a pastor, but be who God made you to be. Don’t try to be someone else. Be your Jeremiah 1.5 God-pleasing self.

5. Be Christlike in your pastoring
Study Pastor Jesus in the Gospels. Then, as Jesus pastored, pastor. First in being, then in doing, for it is from being that doing flows.

6. Be an apostolic pastor
Not an apostle, an apostolic pastor. Like the Church’s first pastors, devote yourself, your days, your life to prayer and the Word (Acts 6.4).

7. Be a “people’s pastor”
The church has many who carry the title “Pastor,” but too few who carry the basin and towel of the servant. Be a shepherd: share in the lives of your people. Move in. Mix in.

As we serve as shepherds after God’s own heart, and Jesus comes among us to preach the Kingdom and heal, He will not find His people weary and scattered, but strong and united in faith, living in that Kingdom and health,
Why? Because they have a shepherd, a pastor. They have YOU.

“Ordained ministry is a serious and strenuous calling that requires from a man a radical refusal to set any limits on what God may demand of him.” David W. Hegg, Appointed to Preach

A FINAL THOUGHT

Right now, where you are, Pastor, close your eyes and bow your head. And then pray this prayer with me and pastors around the world:

“Good Shepherd, I am yours. By creation, redemption, and calling, I belong to you.

I refuse to be a hireling. I will not sell my call for a CEO’s chair, 10,000 social media followers, celebrity status, or any other worldly treasure.

But with your sustaining help, O Lord, I will be a faithful undershepherd of Jesus Christ. I will please my Lord by leading His people as He would do if He were here in my place. I will do so in humble confidence, humble in my heart, confident in You. As Christ my Lord did ultimately on the Cross, I will do daily in my church: I will lay down my life for love of God and love of His people.

I will be a shepherd after God’s own heart. So help me, my Master. Amen.

“One of the most important discoveries I have ever made is this truth: God is most glorified in me when I am most satisfied in him. This is the motor that drives my ministry as a pastor. It affects everything I do.” John Piper, Desiring God

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NOTE: Journey Pastoral Coaching exists to provide pastoral coaching to Millennial ministers.

Saddled with large student debt, just beginning to set up homes and start families, and serving in low paying first and second positions, Millennials are those who most desire but can least afford to pay for pastoral coaching.

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“Of all vocations, surely the gospel ministry is the one whose paradigm is most radically formed by the dynamics of godly mentorship.” 

Stephen Baldwin