Job One: Shepherding

August, 2005

by: Walt Bertelsen

What’s the most important job for a Christian man? This is not a quiz—the answer is in the title.

Shepherding? I am not referring to the kind that leads four-legged animals. I’m not talking, per se, about the eldership or the Lord as our Shepherd. Rather, the focus here is on the role that God has given Christian men: to lead in the home and in the church. God has made men to be shepherds.

Shepherding… job one? Yes. If you think differently, I ask you to think through your own list of “most important things” for a man. What is foundational? My list would look something like this: a) obeying all things that Jesus taught His own disciples; and b) making disciples (which includes evangelism and teaching disciples to observe all that He taught). This command of Jesus (found in Matt 28:19,20) includes anything else you might have on your list. This job of making disciples is an assignment for all Christian men. Another word for discipling (training) can be—you guessed it—shepherding.

“Shepherding” was a God–designed analogy to communicate to the Israelites their relationship with God and who He is and what He does as their Shepherd. It also reminded them of what they are like as stubborn sinners. This word picture communicated well to the Israelites: they were sheep herders. David knew the Lord as his shepherd; we know Jesus as our “Good Shepherd.”

I was privileged to watch shepherds first–hand in Africa. I gained some appreciation for the difficulty of the job when it’s done right. If you are only familiar with shepherds from a few Bible passages and a sanctified imagination, you would do well to read Phillip Keller’s book, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23.

The job of a shepherd involves several familiar tasks. These include: guiding the flock to find food and water; protecting the sheep from savage weather and predatory animals; keeping the flock together and going out to find strays. As needed, the shepherd gives special care to hurt animals, and may exercise severe measures to train especially stubborn ones. To perform these tasks, the shepherd must possess certain character qualities and knowledge. He must be dedicated to and understand his sheep. He must know how to guide the flock from place to place and how to treat these perennially obstinate creatures with a firm yet gentle hand. He must know the terrain, the plants and animals. He must show courage and integrity when defending the sheep. He must also—a task we sometimes overlook—work himself out of a job. That is, he must train others—be they his sons or others—to understand and do the job of a shepherd.

This job that God gave men, to lead their families, is like that job of shepherding animals. The one area in which shepherding animals differs from shepherding people is this: shepherds in the field train animals to depend on the shepherd. Shepherds in home and church train people to depend on the Shepherd.

The father is a shepherd: he is the leader of the family, the discipler of his wife and children. A father’s job includes training, guiding, protecting, providing, nurturing. Fathers are specifically told to raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, to model the fear of the Lord. While training his children to be dependent on the Shepherd, he is also, by explicit teaching and example, to equip them to become fathers in their own right, independent of their physical father, and dependent on their heavenly Father. You who are sons and single men: hear your future!

If you, as a father (or potential father/leader/shepherd), understand this principle (i.e., the father is a shepherd), it will help you put your day-to-day drudgery duties into a heavenly perspective and see His big picture. It should help you also to make specific choices regarding your time with your “sheep.”

May the God who hears grant us wisdom and knowledge and strength to hear and boldly do job one!