Proper Pattern

For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, even as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake.  1 Thessalonians 1:5 

This week I was very blessed to be able to attend the training of the full-time serving ones in India, online. The Lord's speaking through the speaking brothers were very timely and perfecting to me personally. Some crucial points are just too precious not to blog them as my personal record and study, and also a reminder for the future.

Concerning shepherding, a great new light has dawned on me. The only unique Shepherd is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Today, He has incorporated His heavenly ministry with His earthly ministry of His disciples. He as the Shepherd has duplicated and reproduced Himself into many shepherds; I am glad I am one of them. As a shepherd, I must be shepherded by Christ the Shepherd, so that I can in turn shepherd others with Christ my Shepherd whom I have been enjoying. The gospel of John chapters 10 and 21 reveals to us about the Shepherd and the many shepherds. On the one hand, I am a sheep being shepherded by the Shepherd and on the other hand, I am also a shepherd shepherding other sheep. This is a mutual shepherding. I need both and the Lord needs both too.

In the New Testament, the best way to shepherd is by giving the sheep the proper pattern. The pattern of the Lord Jesus and the apostle Paul are proper patterns of shepherding the sheep with their very life.

The apostle Paul is a pattern of shepherding the saints in cooperation with Christ’s

shepherding in His heavenly ministry. ─ "Even as you know what kind of men we

were among you for your sake” ─ 1 Thes 1:5b; Heb. 13:20-21; 7:25-26; 1 Tim. 1:16; 2

Cor. 1:3-4; Acts 20:20 :

1. The best way to shepherd people, to cherish and nourish them, is to give them a

proper pattern; Paul fed his spiritual children with his own living of Christ—1

Thes. 2:1-12; 2 Cor. 1:23-2:24; 11:28-29; 1 Cor. 9:22; Acts 20:28.

2. Paul shepherded the saints as a nursing mother and an exhorting father—1 Thes.

2:7-8, 11-12

3. Paul shepherded the saints in Ephesus by teaching them “publicly and from

house to house” (Acts 20:20) and by admonishing each one of the saints with

tears even for as long as three years (vv. 31, 19), declaring to them all the counsel

of God (v. 27).

4. Paul had been enlarged in his heart to have the intimate concern of the

ministering life—2 Cor. 7:2-3; 1 Thes. 2:8; Phil. 2:19-20.

5. Paul came down to the weak ones’ level so that he could gain them—2 Cor.

11:28-29; 1 Cor. 9:22; cf. Matt. 12:20.

6. As a lover of the church in oneness with the church-loving Christ, Paul was

willing to spend what he had, referring to his possessions, and to spend what he

was, referring to his being, for the sake of the saints in order to build up the Body

of Christ—Eph. 5:25; 2 Cor. 12:15; 11:28-29.

7. He was a drink offering, one with Christ as the wine producer, sacrificing himself

for others enjoyment of Christ—Phil. 2:17; Judg. 9:13; Eph. 3:2.

8. Paul indicated in his teaching that the church is a home to raise up people, a

hospital to heal and recover them, and a school to teach and edify them—Eph.

2:19; 1 Thes 5:14; 1 Cor 14:31.

Besides these, a brother gave testimony of a shepherd in shepherding a sheep with his tears was very touching. The sheep, a young brother, who has been a church kid all his life and was in a brothers' home decided to leave the home. A brother who oversee the home did not know how to take of this brother who wanted to leave. Truth wise, the young brother has already known much, and experience-wise, he has been in the church-life. He really did not know how to shepherd him. But out of deep and intimate concern, before the young brother left the home, he hugged and wept for him with affectionate tears. That tears moved the young brother and he was shepherded. Therefore, he continued to stay in the brothers' home and later became very useful to the Lord. And now he is one of the elders in the church in Taipei.

This testimony confirmed to me the need for a proper pattern in shepherding the saints, especially the young ones, now that I am shepherding the young people. 

May the Lord's shepherding love be my love in caring for the saints that I may be a proper pattern shepherding the saints with my own life of living Christ!