THE SHEPHERD SERVICE OF CHRIST
J. N. Grace
John 10: 3–5 (from “and he calls”); 1 Peter 5: 1–5
I would like to say a few words about the Master whom our brother served so well. It is a significant thing that the Spirit of God, in inditing the Scriptures, the first occupation He speaks of is that of a shepherd. I think our brother has been marked by shepherd care. He took that from his Master. What a Master we have! Every lover of Christ would ascribe to that, and every occasion we have of being together is mainly to exalt Christ. So in the midst of grief that is what we would do, make much of our Lord Jesus Christ. The wonderful thing about our Master is that He has gone before. We are called to a pathway of experience but He has been before.
So John, who is the last of the New Testament writers, as far as we understand, speaks of the Shepherd service of Christ. What he says is, “he calls his own” and He does call them by name. Wonderful that! To think that every sheep is called by name. When He puts them forth He goes before them. What a Master we have! There is not an experience that He puts us through but He has been through it, sin apart. Not because of anything that came upon Him, all that He has done is on our account. So this wonderful service that He has undertaken now; our brother has been put to sleep by the Lord, but the Lord has gone before him. He has been through death and come out of death; so what a wonderful Saviour we have, at a time like this, to put our trust in, and prove in a fresh way the love that lies behind every action of the Lord Jesus. So we owe everything to the Shepherd service
Our brother served his Master well. I think that one of the things that marked him has been his shepherd service, in his own locality and extending beyond it. In fact, in the last few weeks of his life, the Lord sent him far and wide to other localities universally, because of his shepherd service. The Lord wanted him to do something for other sheep not only those of his own locality. How thankful we can be for our brother’s service. He completed it, the Lord left him here and he finished his service. Paul said, “I have finished my course” (2 Timothy 4: 7.
A.V.); not that his course was exactly finished. Paul followed his Master who said; “It is finished”. Our brother, I think, finished his course, and he finished it well in shepherd service in regard of those he loved. Many of us can be thankful for the shepherd service of our brother. The Lord went before. I find great comfort in that, dear brethren. Whatever the Lord puts us through. He has gone before because He loves us. He knows the end from the beginning.
Well then, Peter says, “The elders which are among you I exhort, who am their fellow-elder and witness of the sufferings of the Christ ...”. A witness, that is all he says. You could say, I suppose, that Peter had his share in the sufferings of Christ, in what is left down here in testimony. Peter does not take that ground. All he says is that he is a ‘fellow-elder and witness of the sufferings of the Christ’. How we can appreciate the sufferings of our Lord!
The impact of that would be upon every lover of Christ that he would desire to shepherd the flock of God. The shepherd spirit in our Master would extend to every: heart that has come under the influence of the love of Christ. So in this section of
1 Peter 5 Peter speaks to the elders; he exhorts them to “shepherd the flock of God”. What an encouragement! What a word to us, if the Lord leaves us a little longer, (I wonder if He will come today. Will the Lord come today for us? We would hope so, would we not?) but if He does not come today, let us ‘shepherd the flock of God which is among you’. Not a question of somebody being over the flock, but shepherding those that are among us, right at our hands, not by necessity, but willingly. Peter not only speaks to the elders, but in the next section he says, “Likewise ye younger”. I think the Lord would gather up in His affection, in His word today, every heart in this room from the eldest to the youngest. There is much to be done. What is to be done? There are most important things to be done; not the physical, literal things that belong to the world, but caring for the flock of God. I think we can just take it to ourselves, expend a little bit more energy and affection in caring for the sheep. What a service it is! From the beginning to the end of Scripture, the service of the shepherd shines out. I think our brother has been an example to us—a model for the flock. May we be helped then, every one of us, from the oldest to the youngest, to make a fresh committal, while we are left here, to follow, the, steps of our Master, and shepherd the flock of God.