Set Your Mind Above

S2 E52 - A Shepherd Smells Like Sheep

July 19, 2022 Season 2 Episode 52
Set Your Mind Above
S2 E52 - A Shepherd Smells Like Sheep
Show Notes Transcript

Have you ever come home smelling like work? When you are immersed in a distinct smell, like on a farm, or working fast food, you end up coming home smelling like what you were immersed in. This has happened to me many times, as I am sure it has happened to you. Well...a shepherd should smell like their sheep. Leaders of the Lord's church do not do so from a distance. They are immersed in the flock that is literally to be among them. They are serving, assisting, teaching, and building up the saints in and outside of the collective assembly. If churches want to cultivate growth and healthy sheep, it starts with this attitude among the shepherds. 

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Hey everybody, and welcome back to the Set Your Mind Above Podcast! I’m your host BJ Sipe – I’m a Christian, a preacher, a husband, and a father. In this podcast we take everyday, ordinary events and explore how they can teach us extraordinary, eternal truths. I’m so glad that you joined me for this episode. Now, let’s open up our minds, our hearts, and our Bible’s together.  

Have you ever come home smelling like work? I laugh because I work at the coffee shops so often that many times Kylie can tell where I have been the moment I walk through the door, because the odor is embedded in my clothing. I’ll give her a hug and she’ll go, “Ah, you’ve been at the Hub today huh?” and sure enough I will have been. Back when I was a teenager, I had a job working the grill area at McDonalds. If you’ve ever worked fast food before, you understand exactly what that smells like. It gets into everything – every article of your clothing, your hair, etc. As soon as you get home from work, you don’t just need to change clothes, you need to shower to get the smell out from what you were immersed in for hours that day. Pretty soon even your car starts smelling like grease and fries from your commute home from work. We’ve all experienced something like this before, haven’t we? You can tell when someone has been on a farm, or works at a gas station, and things such as these because you when you are surrounded by something that has such a distinct smell and spend a lot of time around it, it rubs off on you.  

Well, there is an expression that I heard several years ago that I have grown to love, and it goes like this, “A shepherd always smells like the sheep.” It’s somewhat of a proverb in the way that it sounds, but it’s very straightforward when you stop to think about it. A shepherd, just by way of his occupation, would smell like sheep almost all of the time because of the time they spend around them. They are not off in a distance away from them, but in and among the sheep. They are feeding them, tending to them, sheering them, and sitting among them. I bring this up because of how my day looks today. I am so grateful for the shepherds that we have here at Danville, and I have frequently built them up and shared my close relationship that I have with them. They do not treat me like an employee of the church, as sadly and mistakenly many evangelists are. They treat me like one of the sheep among their flock. They feed me, tend to me, discipline me, and sit with me and love me. So just his morning, one of our elders Randy Ratliff called to see if I had time to get together with him today. We weren’t meeting to talk about work, or something that needed done, or to get an update on any projects or studies I was working on – we were simply getting together just because. We sat, visited, and actually ended up in a deep theological discussion on grace & righteousness as we sharpened one another. I felt so loved that he made that time to just be with me, and I always look forward to our meetings. Now after a few more studies today, I’ll rush home and pick up the family and head to the Godbeys for dinner. Harold Godbey is another one of our elders, and he called yesterday just to ask if we had plans for tonight. It is with great pride that I can say this is not out of the ordinary for our elders to do, as each of them frequently practices hospitality and have others in their home. In fact, in the past three weeks alone I will have been in 3 different elder’s homes. I can’t wait for tonight, and we are all looking forward to dinner together. 

We have spent some time in the past in this podcast talking about the importance of church leadership, and I want to revisit that topic for a few moments today – especially as it pertains to the role of elder being a “shepherd” over the church. In that past, we have discussed how there are 4 terms that are used to describe the same role of leadership over the church: elder, shepherd, overseer, and steward. Each of these terms give us better insight into the purpose and role of the men that aspire to do this work. The term shepherd is no exception. In 1 Peter 5:1-4 we read the following from the apostle, as he says, “I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and witness to the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who shares in the glory about to be revealed: Shepherd God’s flock among you, not overseeing out of compulsion but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed for money but eagerly; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.” Peter, who himself served in this capacity as an elder over the church, encourages others who serve in the same office to “shepherd the flock that is among them.” The way in which they do this is so important, as Peter says in the text it is something they do willingly and not under compulsion or with selfish motivation. But the phrase that I want you to really key in on is this: to shepherd the flock that is among you. Now, certainly this term implies that there are different flocks, i.e. different local churches. Our elders here at Danville lead our local church, but are not to have authority or exercise oversight over another local church. So, it is the flock that is among them in that sense. But I believe there is a deeper meaning here too – as shepherds, they are to literally be among the flock. Just as the Chief Shepherd, Jesus, came and dwelt among us, so shepherds do not lead the church from a distance. They do not simply get together with other elders, make decisions, and then report those decisions from an email or a pulpit to the congregation. A shepherd’s work is done in and among the members of their congregation. It is in the time they spend individually with different families or members outside of the assembly. It is done over a cup of coffee at a local coffee shop. It is done in their home over a meal as they show hospitality. It is done in personal studies and discussions outside of the classroom. Consider the text above again – a shepherd is called to be an example to the flock. Quick question – how are you supposed to serve as an example to someone you never spend time with? 

This is the point that we want to emphasize today: a shepherd should smell like the sheep. Just as a father cares for his children and spends time with them feeding them, serving them, and loving them – so a shepherd does so with the children of the household of God (see 1 Timothy 3:5). My friends the church is not a business, it is a family. That culture can only be cultivated if the leaders of a church treat it as such. If they conduct their relationships with the saints and the church as a whole like a business, that church will fail – and the sheep will suffer on account of distant, inattentive shepherds. But if they conduct their relationships with the saints and the church as a whole like a family, that church will grow – and the sheep will follow the shepherds who feed, love, and protect them with complete trust. May God raise up such men to lead his church, and may such men always look to our Chief Shepherd, Jesus Christ, as the model of how to better serve the children of God. 

Thank you for tuning in for this week’s episode, and I would invite you back every Tuesday for a brand-new episode each week. If you haven’t already, be sure to find us on Facebook for occasional announcements and special video sessions. If you have benefited from this podcast, please if you’re able to be sure to share it with someone else that you think could benefit from it as well. Until next time, know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each & every day set our minds above.