The Good Shepherd and the Hireling

John 10.11-15:

11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

12 But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.

13 The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.

14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.

15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.

 

Many people reading this will know the Greek word for shepherd is poimen, which is also translated pastor as well.  Whenever you read the word shepherd you can translate pastor, whenever you read the word pastor you can substitute shepherd.  A pastor is a shepherd of men, just like an evangelist is a fisher of men.

But how do you tell if the pastor of a church is a good shepherd or a hireling?  Some pastors are quite definitely just in it for the money – it sounds crazy to those of us who know we could make a  considerable amount more money doing other things, but it is nevertheless a fact.  Some pastors are just in it for themselves and their career and their reputation.  Can we tell?

1. A good pastor lays down his life for the flock.  The implication here is whole life – not just 3-5 years.  If you want to know if your pastor is committed to shepherding the flock, ask him where he was 3-5 years ago and find out where he intends to be 3-5 years time.  If he is a hireling, he is probably already looking at the next step up – looking to get a bigger (and better?) church and get a promotion for putting up with you.  Good pastors stay with their flocks for decades.  They get a bigger church by growing bigger people.

A while back, when the Tree of Life Network was just one church and I wasn’t even earning a salary but working as a part-time postman to get some money in while pastoring, a church phoned me up.  They were a local church who needed a new pastor – and they were going to pay me twice what Royal Mail did, give me a company car and a manse to live in.  They were after me.  They phoned regularly.  Trust me – there was a moment I was tempted, but it really was just a moment.  My destiny is not determined by a company car, but by the will of God and my call is to the Tree of Life and the Network.  I will leave Tree of Life in a coffin and not before and not until!

I had a pastor recently ask how to get elders as committed as ours, I said the only way I know is to ensure the elders know that I am committed to them.  If they have served at the church for 30 years and you are the seventh pastor that they know – and they know you will be gone in 3 years, don’t expect them to cheer every time you want to change things!

2. The hireling does not own the sheep

Now I am not a fan of heavy shepherding – you know when the pastor micro-manages the life of the flock and tells them when to holiday and so on and so forth.  Not my scene at all, and that is not what I mean here.  What I mean is that there is a link between the pastor and the sheep that transcends other relationships.  You were the one who led them to the Lord, or you were the one who got them healed or baptized in the Holy Spirit.  Your teaching got them on fire, your teaching restored their marriage and healed their mind.  You own them in the sense that they are loyal to you.  

The only way to have that happen is to go beyond what is normal and expected.  Hirelings do what is expected – they turn up at meetings, but they are not the first to arrive or last to leave.  I am the first to arrive on Sunday and the last to leave.  This week I have attended 4 Living Churches and the weekend will involve 3 meetings and evangelism – and I lead from the front.  Hirelings often lead from the back – they will not turn up at the prayer meeting, not be at the outreach.  They like the sermon bit because that is where they get the ego-massage, but they aren’t interested in people, just crowds.  

If your pastor is the last to arrive, first to leave; if they are never at small groups and never involved in people’s lives – they may be a hireling.  If your pastor knows the people in the church (obviously dependent on church size how well they know people) and they are loyal to him then stick around, there probably will end up being a reason for you to be loyal.

3. HIrelings run from the wolf

They are more concerned about their comfort, their lives, their reputation than your problems, your life and your best.  Recently someone was very rude and hostile to a couple in our church, I was stunned at how strongly I felt about this situation and how firmly I spoke to the individual concerned.  The Lord showed me that I was acting like a good shepherd because I was not concerned about politics and keeping this person happy, I was concerned about protecting the sheep.

Pastors who when the going gets tough go to the golf course, or change church, then maybe they are not the shepherd you are looking for.  Pastoral ministry is tough, I don’t doubt it I know it – but tough times call for tough people who stand up to wolves and stand them down.  When sickness attacks your body you need someone around who can deal with that sickness, not someone singing Doris Day.

4. Hirelings don’t know the sheep

I heard recently about a pastor who for a season had to get a secular job.  He was still at the church but when he was working he refused to serve in the church in anyway because it was too hard for him to juggle his work life and church life.  He is now not doing the secular job, but is in full time ministry in that church.

It is going to be very difficult for that man to have a successful pastoral ministry because he hasn’t got a clue what the sheep go through.  In the Tree of Life Network, 15-20% of our church each week serves in some way – making the teas, doing the children’s work, ushering, cleaning up, running Living Churches, and a whole host more.  And all of those people have jobs, families and commitments on top of that.  I know what that feels like, but this pastor doesn’t.  He doesn’t know the sheep – He blew a wonderful opportunity to stand in the shoes of the lay preacher, the Sunday school worker and the ushers and the small group leaders. 

As pastors we need to make sure we know the sheep – we understand how hard it is to live in this world and work 9-5.  I pastor in London, and in London people work longer than anywhere else in Europe.  It would be irresponsible to have late night meetings night after night – people have lives as well.  I know that because I have worked in the city.  I know the sheep.  

I am not saying you need to know everything about someone or experienced all their problems to minister to them, but I am saying people need to know you are credible and you are authentic and you know where they are coming from and that you have walked in their shoes in some measure.

5. The Good Shepherd is known by the sheep

I get wound up so much by celebrity pastors.  You know, they leave the limo engine running while they run into the church to preach (missing the worship, showing obviously that they are better than you – you need the songs, they just glide in) then run out again without getting any contact with people, and if anyone does come near them then their bodyguards will stop you getting too near.

Peter’s words in his letter resonate so much with me.  He says in 1 Pet. 5.1 that he is a fellow-elder with the other elders.  That means Peter still ran small groups and discipled people!  He was the apostle Peter, who raised the dead and preached to 1000s.  Yet, he never lost touch of the small group and he let people know who he was.  He shared his life with people. 

You can’t share your life with everyone, but you can run a small group.  You can share your life. I’ve been tempted to give up my group from time to time I can assure you, but actually it is the most grounding experience of my week, and some of the greatest ministry I have ever done is in that group.  I have raised leaders in that group, I have made disciples in that group.  I never want to give it up.

But the cost of that is that people know me.  They know I am not perfect.  They know I am not the best person in the world for hoovering  the floor, they know my children don’t ALWAY do what they are told 100% of the time.  They see me at home, they see me – not the stage performance of the preacher.

Any good shepherd has people who know him.  People from the flock.  Bible College told me not to make friends in the congregation – they were wrong.  That’s a great recipe for becoming a hireling, but not how to imitate the Good Pastor and be a good pastor.

Celebration Church and Living Church

In Matthew 16.18 Jesus himself said “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” Think about that – the church is Jesus’ idea and His plan and has His promise of divine protection and guaranteed victory against hell.

If you want to be in the place you can be confident of guaranteed victory against hell, then plug into and get planted into a church! Hebrews 10.25 says not to forsake or give up assembling together.

Now how we should assemble is the issue I want to think about today: because I believe a healthy church should provide 7 things for a Christian who assembles with them:

1. A place where they are inspired by a huge vision (Pro. 29.18)
2. A place where they can worship in unity (Eph. 5.18ff)
3. A place where they can be equipped by effective preaching (Eph. 4.11ff)
4. A place where they can be loved for who they are (John 13.34)
5. A place where they can serve both practically and spiritually (Php. 2.1-4, Acts. 20.35)
6. A place where they can be corrected if they are missing it (2 Tim. 3.16)
7. A place where they can be discipled and become a leader themselves (Matt. 28.19, Luke 6.39-40)

Most churches do not provide a healthy balance of all these elements.

Large theatre style churches provide 1-3, often based around 2 or 3. People will go to these churches just for the worship or the preacher. That’s fine for a season, but for real Christian growth you need more!

Family based or tribal based churches will provide 4, 5 and 6 – and if the face fits and you have the right surname will help you with 7.

Just watching a TV church might just provide 3, if it is the right preacher. But nothing else.

Most traditional churches will provide 2, 4 and 5.

But a healthy growing church must concentrate on supplying all 7. Whether any given individual will receive all 7 is their choice (people are as integral to a healthy church as they choose to be), but the church should be providing them.

As far as I can see, the only way to provide all seven is by having two very different church gatherings each week. The Celebration Church provides 1-3, the Living Church meets in houses in the week and provides 4-7.

Your destiny is to be a powerhouse, a person of influence, a changer of nations, a healer of the sick, a destroyer of the devil, a discipler of nations. Where you go to church is far too important to be left to chance, or habit, or geography. Find a church that will provide what you need and get integrated. Some people just want a worship service but I am committed to providing for people who want to be world changers.

My 5 Favourite Films

5. Cars.  I have four gorgeous children, so end up watching a lot of family films at the cinema with them.  A lot of family films are awesome for adults to watch – often with jokes or parodies of things that the children would have to have explained to them.  I love Ice Age, Shrek and Toy Story.  However, my favourite family film has to be Cars.  The little filmette that starts this off is called One Man Band and is excellent in itself, and the film is great too. It starts with a race sequence, and goes on to tell the story of Lightning McQueen, the fast, heroic, city car who ends up stranded in a small town, imaginatively called Radiator Springs, and learns about a different pace of life and a different set of values.  It’s a lot better than the Michael J Fox “Doc Hollywood” from which a lot of the plot appears to be based, and for a children’s film, conveyed a message about how if all you aim at is success, who will you share it with when you get there.

A lot of fuss was made at the time about the decision to put the animated cars’ eyes on the windscreen, rather than use the headlights which is more common in cartoon films.  However, I think it makes the cars seem more anthropomorphic, more animated and more “human”.  

Definitely an enjoyable cinema trip, and a great film…

4. Back to the Future.  This film is just a lot of fun: Michael J Fox goes back in time, driving a time machine designed by a wacky professor played to a tee by Christopher Lloyd.  As he goes back to 1955, he breaks the time machine, has his mum develop a crush on him, inspires the civil rights movement, invents Rock and Roll – and skateboards, and finally manages to convince his dad to fight for his mum and not only returns to his present day but finds out he has actually improved it.  

Some fantastic set-pieces (the car chase while he is in the skateboard, leading to the car crash into the manure truck), the Doctor from 1955 refusing to believe Reagan could be president, and the fact that Marti (Michael J Fox’s time traveller) is called Calvin Klein by his mum because that is the name on his underwear, make this film thoughtful, action-packed and a lot of fun.

Although the two sequels are also fun and play with the ideas in the original in spectacular ways, neither of them reached the sheer energy and wit in this one.  In a decade that promises to be full of 80s remakes, I’d love to see a remake of this in 2015 with Marti going back to 1985 – but I can’t think of any music that would shock a group of 80s teenagers!

3. Superman (the Richard Donner film).  I love superheroes, I used to spend all my money on comics as a child, and Superman has always been my favourite.  I went to the cinema to see this with my nan, and she had me convinced I was going to see the Fox and the Hound!  It was awesome to watch on the big screen – I too believed a man could fly.  Christopher Reeve achieved the almost impossible: he made it believable that you could see Clark Kent and Superman and never realize they were the same person.  He showed the humanity of Superman even though his alien origin was paramount in the film.

From Marlon Brando as Superman’s alien father, to Lois Lane, this film altered the comics, and opened the way for a new generation of superhero films.  Gene Hackman plays a fantastic so smart he is dumb Lex Luthor, and I love this film.

My only criticism is one I have had of all the incarnations of Superman since (with the exception of Superman II): Superman needs a super-villain, someone he can have a super-fight with.  Chasing missiles at the end and catching a car is a bit mundane for Superman, using his heat vision to chop a branch of a tree – or in the latest film Superman picking up a mountain – is not really how I define an action film.  Let’s have him have to pound someone to pieces.  Hopefully the re-introduction of General Zod in the upcoming Man of Steel film will lead to some super action in a Superman film.

2. Cinderella Man

I love boxing, and I love true live films – and this one is excellent, telling the story of James J Braddock as he goes through the Great Depression as a washed-up injured boxer and eventually re-enters the ring.  Braddock is a proud man, and as he starts winning fights, starts to pay back the government the money he received as welfare.  The scene where he makes his son return stolen food to the butcher, insisting that he would rather starve honest than eat as a thief brought tears to my eyes – that is good, fair parenting.  

The end of this film is unbelievable until you realize it is based on a very true event.  Great film.

1. Shawshank Redemption

I reckon this must be a lot of people’s favourite film, Most people don’t realize it is based on a short story by Stephen King as it is not like his normal work.  The story of hope in the worst of situations resonates with all of us who have felt confined, falsely accused, bullied, and exploited, that your situation has no hope and your self-worth is continually undermined – and Morgan Freeman puts in the performance of a lifetime as “Red” the go-to guy who can get things, and who narrates us through Andy’s story.  Tim Robbins plays the everyman Andy to a tea (little known fact – the original casting of this film was Tom Cruise as Andy, and Harrison Ford as Red: so so glad that film was never made!), and draws you into his struggle.

When Andy finally succeeds in outwitting the prison warden, and ensuring Red survives, it is one of the most powerful cinematic scenes in history.  In fact, if you need a little light at the end of the tunnel today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SheaMMd8H5g

Ten Reasons to Speak in Tongues…

10.  You edify yourself and build yourself up

9. You train your mind to shut up and listen to your spirit speaking out of your mouth

8. You build up yourself in the faith

7. You speak mysteries to God

6. You can pray with the spirit, and then interpret and pray with understanding.  It’s a better way to pray!

5. You can pray in tongues in the car, walking to work, doing the dishes – in any situation in which your mind is unfruitful

4. Paul prayed in tongues and he told us that we should imitate him

3. Mary prayed in tongues, and that’s just awesome!

2. In the early church, they all spoke with tongues – and the church hasn’t changed since then.

1. Jesus said “In my name, you will speak in tongues”

Control Freak!

At Faith Camp last year, James Galloway said something very interesting.  He said that all good leaders should be control freaks.  I have meditated and considered this for months now, and I think that it is absolutely correct.

Now you cannot control people – that is witchcraft, but you can control the vision.  For example, God gave the vision of Tree of Life Church and Tree of Life Network to me – not to anyone else.  Now I can receive input and information from anyone, but at the end of the day, I have to be obedient to the heavenly vision God has given me.  Other people who are involving in either supporting the vision or benefiting from the blessing of the vision, have to accept that I cannot disobey or dishonour the vision.

You might want me to run Tree of Life Church this way or that way, but I can only run it His way.  I can only do the best I know how to do at the time.  

And you need to take the same attitude to whatever task and vision God has given you – do it, and do it right – and those people assigned to help you need to get with the divine programme.

10 People You Can’t Help! (and you shouldn’t feel guilty about not helping)

You can’t save the world – you can’t help everyone. You are one person who has a finite amount of time, energy and influence. That is a harsh but true fact – and if you try and help everyone in the world then you will go loopy. God in His wisdom has ordained a ministry and a task for you – and that is all you need to do. If you invest your time in people you cannot help, then you will never have the time, resources or energy to help those who need your help. Here are ten groups of people you cannot help:

10. People who think they don’t have a problem.

9. People who think you are their problem.

8. People who refuse to be honest with you.

7. People who fail to honour you.

6. People who refuse to respect your boundaries.

5. People who refuse to take responsibility for their actions.

4. People who think their problem can never be solved (or that it is unique to them and worse than ANY other problem in the world…)

3. People who expect the whole world to bend around them and their needs but never make a compromise to find help.

2. People who accuse you of being judgmental when you are trying to help them onto a higher path (all paths are not equal).

1. People who expect you to invest time, finances, energy and life into solving their problem, but who don’t invest any themselves.

Shake the dust off your feet and go and find some people you can help! Selah!

6 Steps to Healthy Relationships in 2013

1.  Don’t continue to pursue someone who isn’t interested.  You are wasting your time, energy and reputation – and you look ridiculous.  There are 7 billion people on planet earth, and there are mentors who will lead you on, followers you will lead on, and peers who will inspire and help you see things from another point of view everywhere.  Stop chasing the people not interested, and you will have time for those people who are there for you.  Sometimes we are so concerned about being friendless, we allow people to act as really bad friends because we do not think that we could ever find better friends.

2,  Don’t ever feel guilty about setting boundaries in your life.  Don’t let people chuck their rubbish in your garden this year.  Don’t become an enabler by allowing someone’s selfishness to ruin your life.  Setting strong boundaries is not unloving, it is true love.  You need to kindly let people know what you are prepared to do, and what you are not prepared to do.

3. Have fun!  Part of why we have relationships is to have fun, and enjoy each other’s company.  Rest and relaxation is not ungodly, and having fun with people is not wrong.  Sometimes we have to choose the people whose company we enjoy and go and enjoy their company.  True friendships are low-maintenance, you don’t have to worry about what you say or how you say it… when you find friends like that, take time to celebrate them!

4. Be grateful.  When people do things that encourage you, help you, or just show they are thinking of you – make sure you take the time to thank them.  Gratitude is the oil of good relationships.

5. Practise empathy.  Sometimes we get so caught up in our own world we forget about other people’s situations.  What may be a small thing from your point of view might be important to someone else.  The only real way to find out is to spend time listening to other people.

6. Keep feeding the cow.  In the parable of the prodigal son that Jesus told, the son basically told his dad to drop dead and give me all your money.  There are still people like that today – they don’t want a relationship with you, they simply want the benefits of being in a relationship with you; sometimes that is money, sometimes it is reputation, sometimes it is just so they can feel good about themselves.  People like that will always let you down.  Like I said in point 1, don’t go chasing people like that.  But eventually the son came to his senses and came home.  Then he didn’t get judged or condemned, he got loved and cared for.  In fact, the dad killed the fatted calf and held a huge party.  So, even when you have been treated badly, always keep the door open – people can change, and can surprise you.  Not often, but it does happen!  Be prepared for a party.

6 Ways to Successfully Build and Pastor a Multi-Ethnic Church

1.  Celebrate food!  People will accept you if you love their food and eat it with enthusiasm.  It’s amazing what a pot luck will turn into with food from several nations.  It’s a lot more fun than just quiche and mini-sausages, I can promise you!  And eating together breaks down all barriers.

2. Do not appoint leaders just because of their ethnicity or gender.  Appoint the best leaders for the task.  

3. Always be sensitive to any group that is a significant minority.  It’s not easy being the odd man out.  Show that sensitivity by listening to people.  People from a new culture who come to the church are often gateway people who bring a number of people from the same culture, help them feel at home and disciple them.  Awesome.  If people are doing that job, make them part of your leadership team and encourage them to keep discipling.

4. (This is a controversial one) Never divide your small groups on the basis of ethnicity.  People need to get to know – and trust – people from every culture.  We are preparing people for heaven, which will be every tongue, every tribe and every nation.  I know some church growth strategists disagree with this, but sometimes growing people is more important than growing numerically.

5. Have a couple of people you know and trust from the different cultures and run any big ideas through them.  They may see things you haven’t seen, and they can advice you on the impact that decision would have on people who have been raised in a different culture from yourself.

6.  Remember at the end of the day, there are no white people, black people, Asian people: there are just people.  We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and we are all made righteous freely through the redemption of Jesus Christ.  Our similarities as Christians far, far, far outweigh our differences.  We have the same faith, the same God, the same peace, the same Bible, the same struggles, the same temptations, the same Holy Spirit.