The church is to be led and not driven: The pastor who attains a Christ-like spiritual development will not need to drive his members into righteousness. He needs only to guide them with the Word of truth, and they will follow voluntarily and therefore, happily. Confusion is not an attribute of Christian fellowship. Jesus knew His flock. The pastor should know his members. Jesus’ flock knew Him and voluntarily followed Him. (See John l0:26-30) The pastor, elder or bishop who leads by force or orders, is unlikely to achieve any of the objectives of the calling to service of God. He has the duty to keep his flock in faith and if by his action any of the flock backslides, he must chase after it, seek it and bring it back into the fold. (See Matt.18:12, 13) for the Lord will hold such a pastor accountable for any lost flock of the Lord (Eze.34:10, 11).
The church is to be fed and not exploited: God’s expectations of the leaders or pastors of Israel of God (the church) is vivid in the allegorical prophetic stipulations of Ezekiel 34 in which literal Israel is depicted as the flock of the Lord, their leaders as the shepherds. Rendered in today’s dispensation of the Christian church; the pastor, elders and bishops are the shepherds and the congregation of believers are the flock. A comparative exposition of this passage emphasizes to the leaders of the spiritual Israel — the church — in place of rulers of literal Israel; that greedy, neglectful, selfish pastors will be punished (Ez. 34:1-10). The Lord will Himself seek out His true (flock) believers or Christians (verse 11-16) and will judge between one believer and another, protecting the weak from the powerful (verse 17 – 22). The Lord will establish His true churches for His faithful followers (verses 23 & 24) and will enthrone peace in His true churches with good pastors that will bring forth the fruit. (Verses 25-31).
For purposes of emphasis, the Lord will … search out His sheep (v 11) and deliver them from the human wolves, agents of the devil, both human and spirit (v 12) and lead them into the heavenly path and place (implied in verse 14).
Ezekiel the prophet like Christ had the heart of a pastor, hence he used the Hebrew word “roeh” meaning “shepherd” sixteen times in this chapter to refer to the leaders, and applied it to Christ, the Good Shepherd to show prophetically what a leader of Israel of God the church – should be like.
It is Gods’ purpose therefore, that the church of Christ should be led and not driven; feed and not exploited.
Apostle Peter enjoins leaders of the church including pastors, elders and bishops to: “Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lure, but of a ready mind” I Peter 5:2 (also see John 10:7-14; Ps. 23).
Here Peter passes on to today’s leaders of the church, the instruction of the Lord to him (John 10:16) emphasising that, because members of the church constitute not only the flock of the Lord, but also the Body of Christ, His mystical spouse, they should not only be fed, but treated with care and respect. The word rendered “oversight” in this passage is a translation of Greek “episkopeo” which means “to inspect” “to oversee” from the same root as Gr. “episkopo” “overseer” which is four times translated “bishop” in the New Testament. “Not by constraint” means not by force or by compulsion with regard to the Greek word “anagkastos” from which the expression is derived. Elders, pastors or bishops should lead and oversee the church without being forced or compelled and equally without exerting same on members but willingness on both sides. The Greek Septuagint (LXX) adds “kara theon” meaning “according to God”. Service in the church should be given voluntarily, for that is the only type of service acceptable to God.
The quarrels and conflicts among leaders today in the church would certainly abate when they take this passage seriously and determine to be guided by it. The Greek word “aischrokerdos” rendered “filthy lucre” connotes “fondness for dishonest gain”. If only pastors will learn that they are not to perform their services with eagerness to enrich themselves at the expense of their members, love for God, faith, honour and glory of God; if only they can realise that material wealth is no evidence of God’s acceptance and approval, and that the adversary, the devil as a roaring lion, walking about, seeking whom to devour (I Peter 5:8) could exploit their love for material wealth to destroy them by luring them away from faith.
“The Scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And the labourer is worthy of his reward”. I Tim. 5:18.
Yes! But the pastor’s reward is only a by – product of the service he renders. Service in the church may never be made an avenue for self-enrichment. And besides, the Apostle was careful. He uses the word “reward”. The scriptural meaning of Gr. “mithos” rendered “reward” is earned by faithful service rendered to God and fellowman (Matt 10 : 42; Luke 19 : 17; 1 Cor. 9 24, 25; II Tim. 4 : 7, 8) It is a future attainment to be dispensed at the second coming of Christ for His own (Matt 16 :27; 11 Tim. 4 : 8) at the judgment seat of Christ (II Cor. 5:10; Rom. 14 : 10) being inseparably connected with God’s grace.
Therefore the pastor’s eagerness to serve God should not be for earthly wealth. It is a manifestation of a consecrated worker to serve the Lord irrespective of any monetary reward here on earth.
Again for emphasis: Jesus purchased the Church – the spiritual Israel – with His blood – at His death on Calvary’s cross, His blood with water issued from His five holy wounds, and His heart was broken by the resultant separation from His Father (Matt. 27:46; John 19:34 – 35) This blood is spoken of as “Saving Blood” (1 Cor. 1:. 17, 18), “purchasing Blood” (Acts 20 : 28), and “Cleansing Blood” ( l John 1:7).
The church is often referred to as the “Body of Christ”. And in 1 Cor. 12: 12 & 13 Apostle Paul says: “for as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free and have been all made to drink into one Spirit”.
The church in this passage is presented as the “Body of Christ” to emphasize: the unity in diversity and the diversity in unity of members united in Christ Jesus just as the human body is one organism, but composed of various parts (members) each having its own indispensable function – all uniting harmoniously in one whole.
Christ as the head of the Church (1 Cor. 12: 27; Eph. 1: 22 & 23; Col. 1:18-24) stands for the entire church. All the members are separate individuals having varying offices and responsibilities in the church for which they receive gift from God appropriate to their individual needs, but they are all answerable to Christ and are united in Him.
It is through the work of the Holy Spirit that men become members of the “Body of Christ” – Christians or spiritual Israel. The water baptism referred to in verse 13 will be valueless unless the one being baptized has been born again by the Holy Spirit.
(To be continued next week)
