The Shepherds are Few

Matthew 9:35-38

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. [36] When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. [37] Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. [38] Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

I think I used to always read this passage through the lens of evangelism. And to be sure, there are implications for that in these verses. However, it occurred to me that what led our Lord to make a plea for “workers” was the noticeable need for shepherds over the harassed and helpless flock of God. The text says that the flock was in such poor condition, that it was as though it didn’t even have a shepherd at all.

And so Jesus makes the point that the need is great, but that the workers – those who would be shepherds – are few. He then declares to his hearers that they (we) should ask the Lord to send such workers into these very fields that are in such desperate condition.

God’s flock is in need of faithful shepherds today as well. There are many families without a faithful shepherd in the home. Churches often have greater needs than the one “professional shepherd” on staff can respond to. The wayward, helpless flock of God is in dire need of faithful shepherds who will lead and guide her, nurture and feed her, defend and guard her, admonish and instruct her – love her to the point of pouring his life into her – even to the point of losing his life for her.

The need is clear. So why aren’t there countless shepherds standing in line to care for God’s flock?

One reason can be found in these words of Gideon,

“How can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family” (Judges 6:15).

Whether false humility (cowardice) or real, many flee responsibility before God because they do not feel that they are “up to it.” But since when has God been counting on unaided man to do his bidding? His answer now is the same as it was to Gideon, “I will be with you” (Judges 6:16).

This reminds us of Paul’s words to the church at Corinth regarding God’s use of the weak and foolish things of this world to confound and humble the “strong and wise.” God uses us, but he isn’t “dependent” on us. There’s an important distinction here. And that’s one reason the shepherds are few.

Perhaps another reason is the sacrificial nature that is required to be a shepherd. It’s not a romantic or glamorous post in God’s Kingdom. For those seeking their own end, however, it has often been used as a vehicle for their own name’s sake.

To such Peter says,

1 Peter 5:2-3 – Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers–not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; [3] not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.

For those who would use their position of shepherd as a stepping-stone to their own power, fame, and wealth, Peter’s words must come as quite a shock. He reminds us that shepherds have been entrusted, by God, to care for his tender lambs. And their watch over them must come from the heart – from a genuine willingness to serve them. It isn’t a means to personal fortune. It ought not be drudgery. If certainly should not be a means by which power and control are sought after. It is sacrificial – my life for yours – your life for theirs.

To be an example to the flock is to be always “on duty.” It is to always be intentional in your thoughts, words and deeds. It is thinking, speaking, and doing rightly – Christianly – and then caring for the flock accordingly. This isn’t easy. It is a dying to self. But unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it cannot produce many seeds (John 12:24-26).

And that’s what we’re shooting for – many seeds – fruit that is good, lasting, and abundant (John 15). Our Lord has told us that the need is great. We needn’t look any further than our own family, church, friends – all of our spheres of influence. The harvest is plentiful, but the shepherds are few. Won’t you be a shepherd for God?

Stand Firm,
Dale

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Parenting: The Gospel Matters

As David Powlison says in his Forward to Tedd Tripp’s Shepherding Your Child’s Heart, “most books on parenting give you advice either on how to shape and constrain your children’s behavior or on how to make them feel good about themselves.” Of course, neither of those objectives is completely wrongheaded… they just shouldn’t be a parent’s primary objective. Tripp puts well what should be our primary objective with these words…

God is concerned with the heart – the well-spring of life (Proverbs 4:23). Parents tend to focus on the externals of behavior rather than the internal overflow of the heart. We tend to worry more about the “what” of behavior than the “why”. Accordingly, most of us spend an enormous amount of energy in controlling and constraining behavior.

When we miss the heart, we miss the subtle idols of the heart.

When we miss the heart, we miss the gospel. If the goal of parenting is no more profound than securing appropriate behavior, we will never help our children understand the internal things, the heart issues, that push and pull behavior. Those internal issues: self-love, rebellion, anger, bitterness, envy, and pride of the heart show our children how profoundly they need grace. If the problem with children is deeper than inappropriate behavior, if the problem is the overflow of the heart, then the need for grace is established. Jesus came to earth, lived a perfect life and died as an infinite sacrifice so that children (and their parents) can be forgiven, transformed, liberated and empowered to love God and love others.

from Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Tedd Tripp

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Instructing a Child’s Heart

Dr. Tedd & Margie Tripp discuss their book Instructing a Child’s Heart

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The Difference a “Checked-in” Dad Makes

from Ken Canfield’s They Call Me Dad: The Practical Art of Effective Fathering. I really enjoyed this book. Canfield is insightful and backs up his claims with lots of helpful information. At the end of each chapter he provides many good ideas to help fathers take his information and put it into action. Even if you don’t choose to use one of his ideas, they are bound to get your creative juices flowing so that you can implement your own plan. Really good book.

Here are a few important quotes from the Introduction…

Children growing up in a home without a dad are much more likely to: get in trouble with authorities, drop out of school, make poor grades, commit delinquent acts, engage in drug and alcohol use, receive welfare, marry early, and go through a divorce as an adult.

However:

Infants who have time alone with Dad show richer social and exploratory behavior than do children not exposed to such experiences. They smile more frequently in general, and they more frequently present toys to their dad.

Children who feel a closeness to their father are twice more likely to enter college or find stable employment after high school, 75 percent less likely to have a teen birth, 80 percent less likely to spend time in jail, and half as likely to experience depression

A four-decade study found that when dads encouraged their daughters to excel and achieve and were emotionally close to their sons, the daughters were more successful in school and in their careers, and the sons achieved greater status later in life.

What’s more difficult to track is the impact of a dad who lives at home with his family but has not made fathering a priority in his life. …over time these dads can cause the same pain as defacto dads.

Dads, your attention to fathering will either yield life and good to your child, or death and evil. Therefore choose life so that you, your children, and your children’s children may live!

Dad, if you do not become attentive and involved in the lives your children, you are putting them at risk. It is your God-given responsibility – and your privilege – to be the best father you can be to your children.

When we invest in the hearts of our children and seek God’s best for their lives, we are sending a powerful blessing into our world as well as to future generations. Our influence can be exponential.

As fathers we need to promote an ethic, a movement, and a lifestyle that engages our faith and our fathering. This movement calls us to make being a father one of the highest acts of spiritual service, because unless we have renewal, our nation’s legacy will be brokenness and suffering instead of blessing. However, if we take action, we can bring life and renewal to our households and restore the land.

Fathering requires action. It’s more than knowing the right information; it’s applying that information.

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Raising Kids

Far and away one of the best books I’ve ever read on child-rearing is Standing on the Promises, by Doug Wilson. If you were to ask to borrow my copy, I’m not sure it would do you any good because you probably wouldn’t be able to read the words from all my markings. It’s that good.

Yet, if you are looking for a “how to” book to help you raise your children, you will no doubt be very disappointed indeed. While the book is not without practical application, Wilson is far less concerned with giving you twelve easy steps to parenting godly kids as he is to giving you a firm foundation upon which to do so. But, I hasten to add, the book is anything but abstract and impractical. It is encouraging, instructive, and even inspiring. I heartily recommend it to any and all parents who are seeking to raise godly children in this ungodly age.

Here are a few choice quotes from the first chapter that I think are worth passing on…

The Fountainhead of Culture

The biblical family is an instituted government, established by God at the very beginning of human history. The constitution for this government was written by him, and revealed to us in his Word.

Parents bring up their children to be colonists at the proper time, planting families of their own.

Consequently, each family is designed to be a culture – with a language, customs, traditions, and countless unspoken assumptions. God has made the world in such a way that children who grow up in the culture of the family are to be shaped and molded by it. The duty of the husband and father is to ensure that the shaping is done according tot he standards of the Word of God.

[A common problem among modern Christians] is that of forgetting the family is a culture at all, and allowing, by default, outside cultural influences to take primacy in how the children are shaped. When the biblical cultural mandate for the home is abandoned in the home, the vacuum will not be there for long.

By nature, children are malleable. They will either be shaped lawfully, by those commanded by God to perform the task, or they will be shaped unlawfully, by outsiders. But as children, they will be shaped.

Stay tuned for more gems from Wilson’s book.

 

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A Prayer for Parents

Deliver us, good Lord, from the excessive demands of business and social life that limit family relationships; from the insensitivity and harshness of judgment that prevent understanding; from domineering ways of selfish imposition of our will; from softness and indulgence mistaken for love. Bless us with wise and understanding hearts that we may demand neither too much nor too little, and grant us such a measure of love that we may nurture our children to that fulness of manhood and womanhood which thou has purposed for them; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Taken from The Pastor’s Prayerbook, 1960

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What’s In A Name? More Than You Think…

You got it from your father
It was all he had to give
So it’s yours to use and cherish
For so long as you may live.

If you lose the watch he gave you
It can always be replaced
But a black mark on your name, son
Can never be erased

It was clean the day you took it
And a worthy name to bear.
When he got it from his father
There was no dishonour there

So make sure you guard it wisely,
After all is said and done
You’ll be glad the name is spotless
When you give it to your son.

Author Unknown

Okay, I would would agree that the poem above could provoke a great deal of stress and pressure in a young boy’s life (not to mention his father’s). No one’s “name” is that pure. And, to be sure, without God’s grace and the power and guidance of God’s Spirit, no one will go through life with an unblemished record. Still… I like the poem as something to bear in mind as I encourage and help my sons navigate their way through life. One day, as part of that instruction and encouragement, I will have to share a few times when their father got quite a few and dark smudges on the family name. And then I shall remind them of the precious Gospel of Jesus Christ.

(By the way, if you want to see an incredibly powerful presentation on the significance of one’s name, watch this scene from The Crucible. In this scene, John Proctor accepts a death sentence for something for which he was innocent, rather than passing on a blemished name to his sons. After several years of searching for this scene, I finally found it. There is a short and helpful little commentary at the beginning… which is worth watching as well. But by all means, please watch the scene that follows it.)

And while I’m feeling like imparting some inspiration to my sons… here’s a great video-version of Rudyard Kipling’s “If.”

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